Getting some Big Air - Big Air Fest comes through Wabasso

Photo by Sam Thiel Pro ATV rider and Wabasso native Derek Guetter performs a trick while jumping over a fire truck during their ATV Big Air Fest event on Saturday in Wabasso. This was the first-ever Big Air Fest in Wabasso.

WABASSO — Derek Guetter and his brothers have performed ATV and big air stunts all over the world, traveling to places such as Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Africa and Europe. But there’s something different about performing in front of a crowd of familiar faces.

Originally from Wabasso, Guetter and his ATV Big Air Tour show came into their hometown Saturday night to provide a free event in the town’s first-ever Big Air Fest at the Wabasso Community Center.

Guetter said moments before the show began, he looked around and was nearly brought to tears to see all of the hard work and dedication they’ve done pay off and it was special to perform for the hometown fans.

“I was almost in tears when the national anthem happened; I’ve done hundreds and hundreds of shows and when the national anthem kicks in, that’s when I’ve had to something really scary or gnarly so I get that feeling in my gut and when I heard the national anthem here I was fighting back tears because we worked hard for this,” Guetter said. “It wasn’t an easy road to even get this to be put on, just dealing with everything we’re dealing with right now and then obviously the financial side of what’s happened this year. It was a big weight lifted off my shoulders when I heard that National Anthem and it felt good.”

Guetter added the support from the community was just overwhelming and they’re blessed to be surrounded by an amazing group of people.

“My wife and I are just so blown away with the support we’ve gotten out of this community with making this event happen,” Guetter said. “That was the big reason to do it; we had people at the grocery store, I don’t know who they were but they were like, ‘We back you 100%’ and it was just awesome. We had so many people doing that so there wasn’t any way we were not going to do it. It feels good to have people behind you for something like this and that people are going to have a good time here.”

From small-town farms

to big world tours

Growing up with his older brothers and sister, Guetter was surrounded by four-wheelers, snowmobiles and dirt bikes on his family farm and watched dirt bike and four-wheeler movies and got immediately interested in the sport.

“My cousins rode dirt bikes and I just started watching dirt bike movies and then we saw a four- wheeler movie and I just thought it was cool. As a kid, I always loved four wheels and I just gravitated towards it; I’m a farm kid so there was always a four- wheeler or snowmobile or something to jump on and break,” Guetter said. “At one point we were doing it better than the people that we were seeing in the videos, so my two brothers and I moved out to California and started a film and production company and we were riding professionally and that’s when we started traveling all over the world.”

Since then, Guetter and his wife Larissa created the ATV Big Air Tour and have been performing around the country for the past six years. Guetter said he’s incredibly grateful to have his wife run all of the small details while he performs and they are trying to improve with each show.

“My wife and I created it. This was so much work, obviously the show part of it is what I do but the small details and the things that really matter, that’s all my wife,” Guetter said. “She takes care of the website, hospitality, making sure everyone is looked after and we really focus on small details on this tour and we’ve been doing this for about six years now. It’s all just trial and error and learning, we go all over the country just booking shows at these conventions and we’re getting experience and just getting better at it.”