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Tractor show attendance and exhibitors????

J

JD Seller

Well-known Member
I have not had the chance to go to any shows this year but it seems like I am hearing that show attendance is down and the number of exhibitors is down too.

What have you seen in your neck of the woods???

I hope to make the MT. Pleasant, IA show and maybe another one in earlier August but don't really know where I want to go. Want some where within 300 miles of Dubuque, IA. I like to go to a "friendly" show not the serious type of show. An example of the serious show would be the two cylinder expo. Everything roped off where you can't even walk up and look at it. You mays well be home looking at a picture.

I may even dig out a tractor or two to take. I have not had some of them out of the shed in several years. I start them and run them several times each year but have not gone to a show in almost ten years. My sons got older and their life got too busy. It is not fun going by yourself.
 
Here in Northeast Ohio, our Ashtabula County 4th of July had a great turnout from exhibitors and visitors, had great weather.
 
At the spring swap meet in Portland, Indiana, they told me that wuz the biggest crowd they have had.
I got there early the first day and it took over an hour to go thru the gate.
I did good sellling most of watt I had.
 
What I have noticed around my area is a change in "vendors".
Used to be when I went to a tractor show I could buy tractor parts.
Now most of the shows have more arts and crafts, including the "tools".

Most of the shows here will still let you climb on the tractors.
I encourage kids to climb on and learn about mine.
They have survived 60+ years of work. What can a kid climbing in the
seat hurt other than maybe scratching your precious floorboard paint?
Are people afraid of getting sued for someone hurting themselves?
I don't have anything so important that a kid cannot be a kid.
 
The Baraboo Steam and Gas Show at Baraboo, Wis.
is a "friendly" show and has much more than
just tractors. The equipment working is my
favorite as opposed to "roped" off as you say.
The show is for all colors although there is a featured one each year. If you go to Baraboo I will wave as you pass Dodgeville. A get away
would be good for you after having a stressful
year. Good luck
Larry D
 
I have never even been to a tractor show... There really aren't any in the area. I tried two years in a row to convince my tractor club to "host" a tractor show in someones field along side the highway, or???

No one ever wanted anything to do with it, and then last year I announced that I PERSONALLY was hosting a tractor show in a friends field. There would be food, vendors, tractors, OLD cars/trucks, games, challenges, a small auction at the end, and more!

I only got two people from our club to say that they would bring a tractor down, and that was it... Oh well, that is why I am a stay at home guy! Bryce
 
Albert City Threshermen and Collectors Show Aug 8,9, and 10. 2 East and 1 North of Albert City, Iowa....Buena Vista county. Featuring John Deere this year. Let me know if you can make it, I'd love to meet you.
Dale
 
Our show is this comming week. Always good food,something to do and see. Working displays, sawmill shreder,plainer sheller,thresher, bailer.Big flea market (not to many parts or tools), one guy sells a lot of manuals. Several steam engines,il field engines, hit and miss, horse pull, and more. This will be the 37th show.

All colors welcome! Case is the feature this year, will be a lot of JD , Allis, IH, Ford, and lesserknown tractors. Look me up will be at the Ford tent, or page me.

Winamac, Indiana

Email open, Joe Reynolds
Untitled URL Link
 
(quoted from post at 21:56:54 07/12/14) Our show is this comming week. Always good food,something to do and see. Working displays, sawmill shreder,plainer sheller,thresher, bailer.Big flea market (not to many parts or tools), one guy sells a lot of manuals. Several steam engines,il field engines, hit and miss, horse pull, and more. This will be the 37th show.

All colors welcome! Case is the feature this year, will be a lot of JD , Allis, IH, Ford, and lesserknown tractors. Look me up will be at the Ford tent, or page me.

Winamac, Indiana

Email open, Joe Reynolds
Untitled URL Link
Click to expand...

You have an awesome show there in Winamac Joe.
I still post pictures from the last time I was there.
I've never seen another show with so much great food!
We're not going to make it this year, but may see you next year.
It was nice to meet you!
 
I like your idea of letting a kid climb up on a tractor under close supervision of course. Kind of like the guy who asked his neighbor why he let the kids trample his lawn all the time. Guy says, we are raising kids, not grass.
 
Larry: I went to the Badger show web page and could not find a schedule of events. I went to the show on a Friday two years ago. There where things I would have liked to see on the Sat. events. Would kind of like to know what and when things are going on.
 
JD SELLER, Winamac is within that distance and starts middle of this week. No rooms avaible in town tho. Have to go about 25 mile or more to find a room. Great show, Started comming up about 25 years ago. About 166 mile to southeast. We booked our room a few weeks ago, comming in on friday and heading home on sat. Camper is out of comision.
 
The show in Temple Tx has been growing over the last several years. Now they have an area for antique road tractors. More equipment showing up. Guy brought a combine last year. They have a shed full of stationary gas and steam engines. They "run" the steam engines on compressed air.

Have seen some unusual tractors there; Field Marshal, Huber (brought in from several states) B-450 all come to mind. There's usually an Oil Pull roaming the grounds and they belt it to a thresher.

I find it amusing that they are roping off tractors at a show. We went to the US Air Force museum in Dayton a couple a years ago. They'll take you to a hanger jammed full of experimental and one of kind aircraft. No ropes or barriers, you have to be careful not to hit your head while your looking at THE X1 or the remaining B70 and all the others I can't think of this moment.
 
JD You can email www.badgersteamand gas.com
for more information or call a old neighbor of mine Bill Klemm at 608 522 4905. Bill is the treasure and is a swell fellow. One thing about the Baraboo Show you can drive it in a bit over two hours from Dubuque. From Dodgeville Highway 23 gets you in the neighborhood of the show
that is located just off Highway 33 east of Reedsburg. Rooms should be able to be had in Reedsburg a bit cheaper than either Baraboo
or Wisconsin Dells and is just as close. Good luck
to you and I hope it works out that you can attend.
Larry D
 
Larry: Thank you for the additional information. I am familiar with the area because when we had the belt trailers we hauled feed right there by the show.
 
Going to Antique Acres in Cedar Falls??
Dad and I will be there. We own a 1910 Nichols and Shepherd steam engine and many Farmalls.

Aug 15-17. It is the 50th annual show featuring steam engines and large prairie tractors.
 
JD
You are sure welcome. Sounds like the Baraboo Show would be a good fit perhaps. You maybe hauled
to either Terry's or Geibels dairy farms?
Good luck with your decision.
Larry D
 
Yes we hauled into Terry's Diary farm. Good fellows. Joe's daughter is a pretty good Basketball player.
 
I know I was going to Penfield, IL on Saturday (yesterday); but rain moved through around sunrise, & I decided not to trample through mud! Expecting up to 2 more inches today means skipping the last day too! SO IT GOES.
 
Last years Buckley show was kind of disappointing. Seems there are more buildings taking space that could have been used for tractors. Flea market had too many sock vendors and other trinkets, no parts. I've been going for over 30 years, missing only one or two. I hope to try Oakley this year.

Buckley had a swap meet this spring. Anyone go?

Larry
 
I'll second the Geneseo show. Along with tractors, we do threshing, bale with a stationary baler, sawmill, combine beans, pick corn, shell corn and of course plowing. Last few years, Dave Frieden, Jr shows up with some horses and plows a little. It's a great show and any and all machinery welcome. Chris
 
I figure its an aging dying hobby because the days of me when younger or Dad or Grandpa had a certain tractor are fading and theres less younger guys on the farm etc etc. But hey that could be wrong as rain, whose to say??

John T
 
we have an ample supply of younger people in our tractor club but our last show was really poorly attended not only visitors but also exhibits. I had more tractors (4) than any one and I am s mall owner. Some of these guys have 20 or more tractors and machine but couldn't(wouldn't ) take the time to show them. I'll bet nest year our attendance will be even less. And so on and soforth
 
A nice friendly show at Shelby, Iowa, Carstens 1880 Farmstead. Good website. 100-150 tractors showing, a Russell Steamer, sawmill, threshing, all on a genuine set of farm buildings. Good blacksmith shop too. Always first weekend after Labor Day.
 
The price of gas and everything just keeps going up , last year I took 3 tractors and golf cart. That was 3 trips Wednesday one Thursday with trailor. Friday and Saturday just truck. Then took golf cart home Sat night, and 3 more trips Sunday. About 10 miles one way. that is 12 times 20 = 240 miles and only 10 miles from home.
I hate to add up all the food,icecream, and fleamarket money. Was it worth it? Darn sure it was!! Joe
 
July 26,27 Grand Mound Ia.Small show good people.July 25,26,27 Symco Wis. bigger show but very nice place and people.
 
JD,do I remember correctly-is your wife from Brown Co.,Ohio? Are you familiar with the show in Georgetown-Ohio Valley Antique Machinery show(OVAM)? They have their own grounds with permanent displays; last year they even had steam engine tractors plowing.It's the first weekend in August I believe-we try to go most years. Mark
 
Cost of towing to/from shows has made it virtually impossible for me to go to multiple shows any more. Fuel/gas prices went back to $2 a gallon and you would see quite a few more pieces at the shows. Now I do one, maybe two shows a year, tops. I pick the bigger, better shows to attend. Small shows are suffering the most. They just get the locals.
 
Mark My wife is from further east Jackson County. I do have relation in Brown County. I have been to the Ohio Valley show. It is usually a good show but it used to be just mainly a show only very little demonstrations other than the saw mill and a little threshing.

Trouble is that it is 600 miles away. I just can't travel that far in one setting anymore. So your looking at two days to get there and two more back.
 
Prairie Village near Madison, SD has a great show each year. This year they are featuring Hart Parr/Oliver tractors. They now have seating for 7000 for the tractor pulls.
Prairie Village
 
If you want to see a lot of early tractors (1900 -1925) consider the shows in Edgerton, Wi (south of Madison, or Rollag, MN. Both are Labor Day weekend. If you have never been to Rollag before, I would not bring a tractor to exhibit, you will be too busy looking at what's there. Most shows have websites.
 
JD,I don't like to travel too far in 1 day either, so I know where you are coming from.My wife grew up in Brown Co., but we live in Ky., about 45 minutes away, so it's an easy ride for us.
The show has a bunch of demonstrations, a big sawmill,shingle maker,rock crusher,stationary hay baler,a steam shovel, and a bunch of hit and miss engine stuff, and maybe a few things I'm forgetting. But, I prefer to see things being used rather than just on display, so last years steam tractor plowing was big treat for me. I may try to see 1 of the Century of Progress shows someday, but when I make a trip like that I try to make a week of it and sightsee along the way. Mark
 
One show I like that I don't think was mentioned is the rockriver thresheree at Edgerton Wi., a little south of Madison. It's a really neat park with a train running around the outside, think part of it might of been a quarry, a couple of hills through it, trees, normal displays, flea market stuff, some old factory stuff out of Milwaukee and Beloit maybe. Haven't been there in a few years but I think it's a neat place.
A couple weeks ago I bought a set of rear tires for my Super M from a guy at Lodi Wi., he asked if I been to the show at Baraboo across the Wi. river from him. I haven't been to it and told him I liked the one in Edgerton. He said him and his wife liked the one in Edgerton better.
 
Two things keep me from attending shows (not just tractor shows but all kinds of shows that I would like to attend) are the price of gasoline and the price of motel rooms. Don't have a camper so motel rooms have to be it.

Was recently planning to spend a couple nights in Duluth, MN area. Checked on motel rates. Saw $150 - $200 per night! Absolutely crazy and I'll not even consider them! Gasoline at $3.59 a gallon takes $60-$65 to fill the van. We may plan to just go a day's drive away and return home each night.
 
The one in ionia michigan had more people, campers, and exhibitors than it ever has. Seems like they pushed it more this year by advertising.
 
I'm heading for Rushville and La Grange IN at the start of August....maybe see you there?..........
Sam
 
(quoted from post at 15:04:54 07/13/14) The one in ionia michigan had more people, campers, and exhibitors than it ever has. Seems like they pushed it more this year by advertising.
Click to expand...

What day did you go??? It was pretty poor on Friday
 
All of them. It's no where near the best show in the state,
but we went over the numbers at a meeting and everything
was up.
 
(quoted from post at 18:55:31 07/13/14) All of them. It's no where near the best show in the state,
but we went over the numbers at a meeting and everything
was up.
Click to expand...
Thanks Nick. I wasn't there this year, first year I've missed in a while!!
Ionia could definitely use some more of the old school exhibits like
we used to have, the threshers, shingles, HP demos, etc.
But it is by no means a write off when it comes to tractors and
is particularly fond to the pullers it would seem!
 
Antique Acres in Cedar Falls has already been mentioned. It is their 50th anniversary and they are expecting a very large show this year. This is a show that has continued to grow through the years. Heritage Park in Forest City, IA is September 13-14. It is a small but growing show, but you will not find another show anywhere that has more demonstrations and tractors and steam engines actually doing work. Imagine 60+ plow bottoms in the ground at one time being pulled by prairie tractors and steam engines, including 4 large plowing steam engines.
 
No doubt. Could definitely have more going on. The problem
is it's hard to find people to put in the time, money and
effort.There's only a small handful of people keeping it going
now. I'm as guilty as the next person for not putting the time
in I should.
 
(quoted from post at 20:51:13 07/13/14) No doubt. Could definitely have more going on. The problem
is it's hard to find people to put in the time, money and
effort.There's only a small handful of people keeping it going
now. I'm as guilty as the next person for not putting the time
in I should.
Click to expand...
Charlie and Gale/Glenda should kick us squarely in the seat!
Last time I talked to Gary he thought things were going Ok.
Hopefully I'll catch up with you at the next meeting.
Medical issues this year. Be back in it soon.
 
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