In your opinion, are tractor shows and pulls declining?

Are shows and pulls declining in numbers?

If you mean number of participants then yes. I don't see the numbers locally that I saw five years ago but would not go as far as to say a very drastic decline. There are quite a number of younger enthusiasts but they often lack the finances of older people so they do not have the exhibits of 50 year old and older people. I'm in my late 40's and I just do not have the money to put into show tractors and probably will not for a while. An appropriate project JD 630 might make me jump on it but still would be quite some time before I could afford to finish it.

At the bigger pulls I attend numbers seem to be up. That said In order to keep young people intrested in the future. We need to move up into the 70's for what we call a antiques. Just like belly-buttons everybody has one. Vic

I belive that popularity, or decline, is a regional thing. It seems to me that here in the pacific north west, that it is increasing. It could be that we will never have as many, as in the east, or the cornbelt. Maybe I am just starting to notice what is available localy, and it seems like an increase.

Very true. I think it's regional as well. One club here has started doing a lot more to involve kids and teens so I think that is good. They have an Allis that is fitted with a bus seat so kids can ride along on a pull.

In my area, yes they are! Why, well I dont know. Maybe it has something to do with the fact you can miss going to the show for 3 or 4 years, then go back and the same thing is still there. Gets old looking at the same tractors over and over again. I know of one show I helped get going about 8 years ago, biggest turn out was 3 years ago, and last year 7 tractors showed up, and they were for sale! Dont know yet if there will even be a show this year, as I havent been physically able to help for about 4 years now. I was told one stopped because the guys who put it on were scared they were going toget sued by some clown who didnt know anything about tractors! Theres some to the north and to the west Id love to go to, gas is just too danged high!

To each his own, but I personally like shows where they are being used and they don't need a perfect paint job for that. That being said I appreciate the hard work it takes to paint one but like you I am too poor to spend all that money now. If this thought seems ok to you it may be an affordable way to get involved too.

i enjoy taking my tractors to shows, pulls, with local clubs i'm in, have a couple with nice paint, couple fair, i not one who trailer queens my restored unit and never get it dirty, i enjoy it the way it is, or i won't own it... of course the way the ecomomy is, can't afford fuel, etc, to go to every show i hear about..

The tractor show around here every year is pretty much on par with it's usual fare, but it is also a flea market and a few other things.

However, a new show started around here last year, and was A-C only, and it got a pretty good turnout.

So, hard to say. But here in Central IL, I'd say they're pretty much level.

Not so many actual shows around central IL, but if you like pulls, there is something every weekend within 2 hours or less. Also lots of plow days in the fall, and the Penfield and Rantoul shows get bigger every year, it seems. Summers are real busy for me.

It would have to be a mechanic's special for me to be able to afford it. I would have no problem showing a tractor that ran good but needed paint. I know 630's are pricey but it's a matter of personal history, too. I would like to find grampa's 3010 diesel also but I think that is flat out lost at this point. He did not own the 630 but he did have a JD 70 and a Farmall H with cutoff's. I have a long list of desired tractors if I ever hit it big but now it is all about improving and growing the farm.

show and pulls are on the decline and insurance is the biggest reason it is just to cost prohibitive

Around here central il the same shows we"ve gone to for years are still really about the same always nice crowd but depending on feature tractors some are larger. Every other year the one in rantoul occurs and keeps getting larger. Fairgrounds have some pulls along with the shows and still bring in a crowd

I would say here in North-east Iowa they both are declining. They each have different reasons for the decline.

The pulls are fewer because the cost of putting on a pull has increased a lot in just the last 4-5 years. The insurance has doubled in just the last few years. A single night for full modified tractors here can run $5000 just for the insurance. Then the cost that the guys with the new sleds charge has risen too. So it is hard to make them pay.

The shows are declining because fewer guys here own tractors or I should say they are older. I had not gone to the two cylinder club show for years. I went two years ago on Friday afternoon. It was perfect weather. I bet there where not 100 visitors there. Plus the average age of the guys displaying their stuff was real old as well.

When antique tractor values sky rocketed 10-15 years ago it cut out a whole generation from collecting them. So it is hard to get them into it after they are older and maybe into some other hobbies.

Also many people just do not have the time anymore. It is darn hard to get days off at many work places any more. When unemployment is sky high you do not want to risk your job because there are several people that would be glad to do it if you aren't.

I personally have not shown at a show in almost ten years. I go to a few each year but I just don't have the drive to take stuff to a show anymore.

I will be blunt here as well. I have seen all the JD two bangers, Farmall "M", Ford 8Ns or AC WDs before so it is not as a big of a deal anymore. I think that many feel this way. I think that is why harvest days and plow days are becoming more plentiful. People enjoy seeing the old stuff work not just be a trailer Queen.

I think what is popular is a constantly evolving thing. We all tend to collect what we remember operating as kids, so they get newer every year. Shows around here seem to attract about the same numbers and you do seem to see the same tractors over and over. I don't restore a different one evry year, but I do participate. So you are going to see one I did a few years ago, at least until I do another one.

The good ones are. Now it's all about creating noise in a coliseum. Nothing even looks like a tractor any more.

I believe both are.

Dean

not the east texas tractot show in canton, tx been going about five years growing every year

Er this is a motor sport the only person that should be on that tractor or anywhere near it should be the driver! Fire or breakage/ rearing up is a risk don't matter how fast or stock the tractor is. This is why insurance is going up because of stuff like this and things happening.
Get the younger ones involved by training them to drive a stock tractor properly. then give them a driving test to prove they can drive it safely then let them pull on there own properly, and safely with the respect that they earned.
I'm not out to ruin the pulling people need to realise what happens when a pull goes south, Ive pulled and watched pulls that i know whats going on and not felt safe being in the croud watching. Anybody here seen the 1206 International explode on you tube?. That pull organisation was incredibly lucky no body was hurt or killed!
Regards Robert

Our area it's hit and miss. THe older shows like Rollag seem to be doing OK but are not frawing as many people showing because of the cost of getting stuff there and back. Then too you have the cost for the visitors getting there thats keeping some of them away. The Dalton MN show is about the same way. Again the cost of going/showing is stopping some people.

We've had a few members here who have posted that they are not showing in as many shows the last couple of years and some claim age and other cost. I didn't make Rollag this past year due to my knees. Kinda don't work too well if I spend a day walking and 3 not moving.

Rick

Our annual pull in late August is bigger than ever; sometimes I think we might have "created a monster."

It appears to me that people are not traveling as far to attend events, the fuel is very expensive! So you don't see some people but you see new guys coming in too. The fairs seem to be listening to the guys and be willing to make some changes here and there. On the other hand a friend told me about going to one that I have never been to that he had to pay for both he and his "helper" to get in, and then pay $10.00 per hook. That is a lot with the fuel. A fellow in the "group". (we have no pulling club here in NH) bought a sled last year and started putting on pulls in conjunction with some farms. We had 216 hooks at his last event last fall.

The attendance and participation seems to be dropping off some at the tractor shows in my area...Most of the tractor collectors in my area range in age from the late 50's to the mid 80's..Some just arent up to hauling tractors to shows...

We have very few young collectors in my area....Its mainly because of the expense and lack of interest as so few kids grow up on a farm..

Tractor pulling seems to be gaining in interest...Just 10 years ago there were only 4 pullers in my county..Now if everyone goes there are nearly 20 tractors and trucks pulling..Lots of these are 10 mph tractors or hot farm..Classic and antique pulling is dying some as it has gotten so expensive..

could be , for reasons others state , but not here , Personally i Would LOVE TO SEE the HONEST tractor pull at 1970 ind. state fair again ..what we have today is nuthin like we had then , what is piking up , is tractor drives , we have small plow days and harvest days , demo days,these keep getting bigger each yr. tractor pulls started the same way