saddens me

received a phone call from an old friend today informing me that the Board of trustees that run the Eastern States Exposition in West Springfield Mass also known as New Englands great state fair has decided to cancel our Antique tractor display at the fair, as they are now going to rent the space out to a vendor. is this the way all the old agricultural fairs are gonna end up? All us guys that trucked our tractors in for this event always thought it was great part of the fair especially seeing all the smiling kids mulling around the old iron So sad

Almighty $$$$

Seems to be the trend.We are no longer an ag centered society.People are getting tired of tractors and 'farm stuff'.They no longer know where food comes from.Dont want to know.Dont care.Our local "AppleFest" decided to get rid of the tractors and ag displays.They want to concentrate on vendors,music,alcohol......

Our fair has a large turnout of livestock every year, yet it seems like most of the people at the fair don't even know there are livestock on the grounds. They only come for the rides and the food. Our fair board is the same way as they will rent out any possible space and they sit on their wad of cash when all of the old BEAUTIFUL buildings are falling down. As of now our tractor club still has a display...

It's their loss.......get the guys together & find a place to put on your own show.....
(hopefully right across the street from them).

Every show I have been to there are many " suburbanites" who never been to ..or even near a farm...are curious.
It's been my experience Tractors & equipment are getting more popular, don't be afraid to approach local hot rod, car, motorcycle or truck clubs.
Even the local auto parts stores, or any store in general.
A lot full of restored tractors draws kids like a midway.
(especially the red ones)

In the town in southern Mn. where I grew up, we had all the useual stuff in the parade on the celabration day..fire trucks,floats of all kinds.highschools bands and tractors and people would ride their pretty horses through the parade.First they eliminated the hosres and riders altogether then a year or two later they started charging big fee's for tractors to be in the parade. I guess those city people how much time it takes to prepare a tractor for there celeberation and what it cost to truck it aways..OR maybe they just didn't want us there anymore.Either way nobdy takes there trastors there anymore.. TO BAD, it turned out like that.It was always a fun day for tractor people to show them off alittle.

Why did you get me started. The fair association got some money so decided to go two miles out of town and buy some ground to have the county fair. They never give it a thought how many young kids walk across town to go to the fair because they can not drive. Its all about the horse show and cattle. They said they needed more room. Its more a stocktrailer, horsetrailer and pickup show. They park all them on the fair grounds and them tell everyone they need more room. What they need to do is take all the trailers two mile out of town and leave the fair alone.

That IS sad.

I'm in Mass - I go to this fair with the kids to show their cows, it's a big deal.

But, it's Massachusetts. I can't say I'm surprised. Why have old smelly tractors when you can put up another homemade jewelry tent?

It's inevitable - with the urban sprawl, everything agricultural gets pushed further and further away. Nobody cares because nobody even knows what it is.

On one hand, I like doing shows and fairs in this area because you have such an opportunity to teach people something. On the other hand, it can be very disheartening.

It's funny, there's a division you learn to anticipate, based on age.

If for instance we bring chickens to a local show - older people will come by and talk about the chickens they used to have, and how they miss the fresh eggs.

People under 40 will come by and be amazed (and very often quite disgusted by the fact) that we actually EAT the eggs our chickens lay.

They assume eggs have to go through some kind of specialized machinery to be cleaned and sterilized.

Then you get the kids under 20 that come by - they've heard somewhere that eggs come from chickens, but never really thought the ones THEY eat actually came out of a LIVING chicken.

They tend to assume eggs come from the grocery store... and who knows, from the egg factory before that. They've simply never even thought about it.

When you're THAT far removed from agriculture, an old tractor is pretty much a pile of metal. Most people in this area don't even know what a NEW tractor is, let alone an old one.

The western half of our state is a lot better - but the sprawl's heading your way guys.

"Almighty $$$"

Everybody thinks that just because something exists, that someone is rolling in money because of it. This is a (county?) fair for cripe's sake.

More likely, a county fair is operating at a loss, and ends up being subsidized by taxpayer dollars. If you haven't been paying attention, governments have been crying poverty for about 5 years now.

Your antique tractor club doesn't pay for the spot. A vendor does.

By not being there, you're saving the taxpayers money. That's a GOOD thing.

People need another stand to buy look alike sunglasses... :lol:

Local fair here did the same with tractors and equipment. Come and celebrate our agricultural heritage, but no tractors allowed. Allan.

Can't do it right across the street as the fair grounds are on a busy
road that is densely populated area and a lot of commercial
buildings.Parking is a mess and that would be why I stopped going.I
spent 25 plus years in the next town over,Agawam,and use to hate
that time of year.

Vito

I'm not a member, but the local antique tractor club has been having a "problem" with insurance. I have a couple friends in the club that are not into pulling, and the club had gotten insurance just covering pull events. Didn't even think about non-pulling events like parades or fairs. I think they now have made some changes, but the way it was for a while, club members taking their tractors on "tractor drives", parades or even to the state fair would not have been covered. You'd think farm tractors would have been covered by their farm insurance, but a couple of them checked and were told by their agents, only when traveling to or from or doing farm work. One guy was told technically he was not even covered if he drove it a few miles to a dealer for service. I have driven a friends WC Allis in some parades and to the fairgrounds, and will not be able to do it this year because I am not a club member and not covered unless my friend or I pay the $25 club membership. Stuff is getting too darn technical in this crazy world.

Always enjoy going to the Ottawa Kansas Power of the Past tractor show. Threshing, rock crushing, horse powered baling demonstrations, lots of stationary engines, implements. It"s a must see. Wouldn"t miss it for the world. I guess it being surrounded by farms makes the difference. Sad to hear about yours going away.