[AT] Bad tractor day :(

[william.neff.powell at comcast.net]

Greg,

A truly sad story...

Looks like the flea market hijacked the show... and soon, thats all it will be, a flea market..... 

Here in the south eastern part of PA times things are changing also.. In my county (Montgomery) it was stated that land is gobbled up at a rate of 1 acre per hour for housing developments. Our local Farmers market "Zerns" has very few farmers stands left, virtually all flea market stuff now... 

Thankfully there are some active clubs within an hour that have not forgotten their roots.. Kinzers in Lancaster is one of them... Quite a show if you can get to it. 

Will


 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: Greg Hass <gkhass at avci.net>
> Saturday I attended the tractor show at a town located about 20 minutes 
> drive from here - Port Hope.
> It's held on the grounds of the school, which has a large amount of free 
> area.  However, the school itself only graduates about 14 students a year 
> now.  I've been attending for 20 years or so, and it has always been 
> attended by several thousand people.  Initially it featured about 300 
> tractors and about 150 "hit & miss" engines, as well as various 
> lumber-sawing demonstrations, shingle mill, and threshing machines.  For 
> $1.50 you could buy a shingle which they branded with the name of the show 
> and the date.  They also had 1 or 2 rows of flea market and very good meals 
> were available (for fundraising).
> 
> About 5 years ago, the tractor part of the show was relegated to the "back 
> 40."  The front was then used for approx. 10 rows of flea market and a 
> large part of the site was used for parking for travel trailers 
> (RVs).  Three years ago the tractor-pulling track, which had been located 
> east of the school building,  was moved south of the "back 40" abour 500 
> feet from the flea market area.
> 
> This year I noticed they had about 20 semitrucks with aluminum dump 
> trailers and pups parked along the whole length of the pulling track 
> between the tractor display and the pullers.  In between the trucks were 
> wood pallets or plastic fence, blocking the area between the trucks.  This 
> all seemed strange and I couldn't figure it out, so I asked about it.  I 
> was told that the people from the flea market area had complained about the 
> noise from the tractor area and the pulling area and demanded that it be 
> stopped, so the semis were used to block the sound.  I have to wonder how 
> many complaints were issued that night when the 200+ travel trailers parked 
> in the area all started their generators so they could watch TV and run 
> their air conditioners.
> 
> Sadly, I counted only about 100 tractors there, and only 6 "hit & miss" 
> engines, of which only two were run.  The shingle mill was there, but had 
> only been run briefly and they were not branding as very few of the people 
> attending were venturing out to the "back 40".  Also gone were the various 
> other demonstrations.  I think the sawmill was there but was located a 
> couple hundred feet past the last of the trailers in an area so 
> inaccessible that no one was going back there to watch.  The tractors are 
> what originally made the whole show and brought it up to what it is 
> now.  Two thirds of last year's tractor area is now reserved for travel 
> trailers.  I do not know what group is running this show, but obviously 
> they have forgotten what made the show what it is today and care little 
> about the tractors any more.  I am a big fan of the saying, "Never say 
> never.", but at this time I cannot see wasting my time going there next 
> year, seeing how little is left of the tractor end of the show.  In my 
> opinion, a sad commentary on the times we are living in.
> 
> Greg Hass
> Bad Axe, MI
> 
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