Antique tractor show taking place in Cole Camp

Roy Ehlers, of Stover, shows elementary school children Friday at the Cole Camp Steam and Antique Tractor Show, how as a child, he used to help his father set up shocks of corn in the field after it was cut with a McCormick-Deering corn binder. The corn cured in the fields and was used for livestock feed during the winter, he said. The presentation was just one of more than a half-dozen demonstrations involving antique and classic farm machinery operated by local farmers that were presented to school kids from Smithton, Cole Camp and the home-schooled.

The Cole Camp Steam and Antique Tractor Show continues today with the gates opening at 8 a.m. with a free-will donation for coffee and doughnuts. A children’s pedal tractor pull starts at 10 a.m. with live demonstrations of antique farm machinery throughout the day. A tractor parade is at 1 p.m. followed by tractor games at 2 p.m. Evening activities start off with a bonfire and wiener roast at 5 p.m., with hayrides available. A tractor pull starts at 1 p.m. Sunday. The adult admission on both days is $5 although people attending Saturday’s event get a collector’s button and wearing it to the event on Sunday qualifies for free admission. Children 12 and younger are free. The show is off state Route 52, at the east city limits of Cole Camp.