Antique tractor show is 'down home fun'

SANDY CREEK — An antique tractor show among friends and family has turned into an annual event big enough to fill the Oswego County Fairgrounds.

The fifth annual Crank It Up! Antique Tractor & Engine show has grown in popularity. The "heritage show and tell" partnered with Pulaski Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce and the Oswego City-County Youth Bureau to obtain grant money from the state Office of Children and Family Services. The grant helps to offset the cost of insurance and renting the fairgrounds on Ellisburg Street, said Doreen F. Macklen, one of the event's founders. In the past, the show took over the grounds on Maple Avenue used for the Lacona Firemen's Field Days.

"The event started because there wasn't a place nearby where people could show off their equipment," she said. "We made it so that people could drive the tractors to the site. We never imagined it would take off like it has."

Mrs. Macklen's son, James B., 20, is another event founder. He said part of what makes this tractor show great is the demonstrations.

"It's nice to see a set-up display, but I like a running display where you can actually see what the tractor can do," he said. "My friends and I liked going to shows, but they were all so far away and we had no way of bringing our own tractors there."

Mr. Macklen was 12 when he acquired his first tractor, a 1936 John Deere A.

"That's what started it all," he said. "I wanted to show it someplace and there was nowhere close by where I could do that."

Mrs. Macklen said in previous years, organizers have welcomed a steady stream of people for the show. She said she has seen upward of 1,000 people come to the free event, and this year, with additional parking and handicapped accessibility, she expects even more people to attend.

The show continues this year from Sept. 17 to 19 with old-fashioned games such as sack races and country chores relay races. A corn maze will be constructed at the fairgrounds. Tractor pulls, tractor barrel rolls and blindfolded tractor driving are just some of the competitions to be held. The annual grand nationals of radio-controlled tractor pulls will be Sept. 17, and the antique tractor pull will be Sept. 18.

"I think our lack is what makes us," Mrs. Macklen said. "We're just doing it for the fun of it. It's a relaxed old-fashioned atmosphere, like the old county fairs before amusement rides. We have square dances and round dances, and it's just a lot of down home fun."

The South Jefferson chapter of FFA will demonstrate alternative energy sources such as windmills and hydrogen-fueled cars and will show how to make and run a biodiesel small-engine car with fuel the group made.

The event is free for visitors and there will be live entertainment as well as a chicken barbecue Sept. 18 and 19.

ON THE NET

Crank It Up! Antique Tractor Show: www.crankitup-antiquetractorshow.com