Antique tractor show

Location, Dorchester, WI

This was a “tractor” weekend. On Saturday morning we went to the First Annual Tractor Drive organized in Medford. Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures. There were about 30 older tractors all shined up for the occasion. The procession left from a farm west of Medford for a planned 30 mile drive. A stop was planned at a local tavern for “refreshments” along the way with an eventual return to the farm for a BBQ.

On Sunday we drove to Edgar, WI to the 34th Annual North Central Wisconsin Antique Steam and Gas Engine Show. This is a 3 day event and is held on a working farm which has been updated to hold such a large show. There is room for dry camping and many participants do camp. Tractors pulling trailers shuttle people from the parking areas to the main show area. It is hard to describe the rows and rows of old tractors both large and small at the show. I hope some of the pictures do it justice.

Of course there is food and lots of it, both in a main area and scattered around the grounds. There was a very large craft and swap area associated with the event and an antique “hit and miss” area for stationary engines. The high light was a parade of tractors at 1 PM. It was lead by steam engines and followed by tractors of all kinds. The parade lasted more than 1 ½ hours. There were demonstrations of wood sawing, shingle making, wood planning, silo filling, threshing, and plowing. The hits of the show were of course the large steam engines. It takes 2 people to run a large steam engine, one to run the engine and one to steer.

Partial view of tractor display.

The large steam engine which led the parade of tractors.

My brother-in-law Art's restored tractor now owned by someone else.

An alcohol fueled tractor.


Brother-in-law Art driving in the parade.

An SC Case tractor like we owned when I was a kid on the farm.

Thrashing with a steam engine.

Way too much fuel!

The weather was perfect and the crowd was large.