By Claudia Loucks
Geneseo Current
The annual Antique Engine & Tractor Association’s three-day Working Farm Show takes visitors back to what life on the farm was like in an earlier time.
This 63rd annual show is Friday, Sept. 13, through Sunday, Sept. 15, at the show grounds, north of Geneseo on Illinois 92, three miles east of Interstate 88, or one half mile west of Illinois Rt. 92.
The Working Farm Show is a popular attraction for residents and visitors of all ages, and is a family event with lots of activities for children, including train rides around the show grounds. Admission to the show is $7 per day or $15 for the entire weekend. Children 12 and younger are admitted free. Golf carts and gator-type vehicles can be brought to the show, but the entry fee for those vehicles is $20 per day or $30 for the weekend.
Chad Jacobs, president of the Antique Engine & Tractor Association (AE&TA) photographed in the seat of the D 21 Allis Chalmers tractor; with Ed Klundt, at left; and Phil Jordan, AE&TA board member. Photo by Claudia Loucks
The historical working farm show features field demonstrations and displays.
It is where the AE&TA harvest corn and beans with mid-1900’sequipment, show the use of horses for working a field, thresh oats or wheat, run a saw mill, plowing, baling, and demonstrate the use of gas engines as they were used from the early to mid 1900’s.
The annual show get larger every year with several hundred tractors, garden tractors and gas engines, plus other agricultural memorabilia on the grounds.
Each year the AE&TA features a different brand of antique engine and/or tractor and this year the group is showcasing Allis-Chalmers tractors and implements.
This year visitors will be introduced to a learning center which has been constructed in the Lester Building, attached to the main barn. The goal of AE&TA members is to promote and educate all facets of agriculture through audio visual training, hands-on experience and guest speakers. Funds for the Center came from grants from the Geneseo Foundation and the Miller Foundation.
Louis Bodamer, Princeton, will demonstrate his skills in working with metal at the blacksmith building.
The Vendor Fair at the Show will feature a variety of crafts, rug weaving, broom making, wood turning, gardening and other demonstrations.
The entire show is handicap accessible. Pets are not allowed, with an exception for service dogs.
In 2010, the AE&TA moved to its current location after 48 years in different locations. The 40 acres of land was donated to the Association by Bill and June Cole of Hillsdale. AE&TA purchased an additional 10 acres to connect the grounds to Illinois 92, which allowed for a driveway from the highway to the show grounds.
They also rent additional acreage from Orville and Maxine McCord.
Handicap transportation is available and the “people mover” also is a convenient means to transport people around the show grounds.
The AE&TA grounds showcase the timber frame barn that appears to have been built decades ago. The building was constructed using age-old techniques. Trillium Dell Timberworks, along with help from the Timber Framers Guild, assembled and raised the large building.
About 95 per cent of the barn was constructed with timber from Illinois forests. Even though the AE&TA barn was built with new lumber, it appears to have been part of the Henry County countryside for years.
A food building also was added to provide seating for visitors to the show.
The Jordan Mercantile Building was donated to the club in 2013 from Phil and Karen Jordan.
A train building was constructed in 2015, with labor and materials donated by the late Larry Colo, Geneseo, and Bill Cole, Hillsdale
A special addition is the enclosed walkway connecting the timber frame barn to the Lester Building, which is where the new Learning Center is located.
Phil Jordan, AE&TA board member, said, “The enclosed walkway includes handicap restrooms, and connects the Lester Building to the timber frame barn.”
AE&TA members share a belief in preserving the historic value of antique, power-driven farm equipment, from early horse-drawn plows to gasoline and steam tractors to equipment from the 1900’s to the 1960’s.
The group also believes in keeping the machines running by putting them to work and that makes the group’s show unique as they use the equipment on display in demonstrations.
For more general information, contact Phil Jordan, 309-314-5000, or Chad Jacobs, 309-314-0783.
The daily schedule of events – Sept. 13-15:
FRIDAY, SEPT. 13
-6 a.m. – Gates open for exhibitors.
-7 a.m. – gates open for visitors.
-8 a.m. – 4 p.m. – engine and tractor displays.
-9 a.m. – Raising of flag by AE&TA veterans.
-9 a.m. – 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. – 5 p.m. – children’s activities and train rides – with the exception of Sunday, Sept. 18, when children’s activities and train rides will conclude at 4 p.m.
-9 a.m. to noon and 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. – demonstrations including blacksmith demonstrations sawmill, threshing, wood carvers, cane press, horse farming and field demonstrations..
-10 a.m. – 4 p.m. – food stands open.
-1 p.m. – parade on show grounds, line up at feature tractor area.
-4 p.m. – lowering of flag.
-5 p.m. – gates close.
-5:30 p.m. - Ice Cream Social.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 14: - same as activities on Sept. 13 with the addition of:
-9 A.M. – Raising of flag by Durant American Legion Post 430, assisted by members of Boy Scout Troop 308.
-9:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. – field and grounds activities.
-After the parade, there will be a Kiddie Tractor Pull in the Food Building.
-3 p.m. – auction of donated items with pie auction to follow.
-5 p.m. gates close.
SUNDAY, SEPT. 15 – Same as Sept. 13 and Sept. 14 with these changes:
- 9 a.m. – noon and 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. – children’s activities and train rides.
-9 a.m. – raising of flag – Cordova American Legion.
-9 – 10 a.m. – church services.
-12:45 p.m. – 50-50 raffle drawing in main barn.
-4 p.m. lowering of flag and show closes.
