[AT] Slow and steady goes the tractor parade

[Mike Sloane]

[This is a follow-up to the article I sent previously about the NJ 
tractor parade. There was no image in the on-line version, but maybe I 
will actually buy a copy of the paper and see if there is one I can post 
on my Fotki album. MS]

Slow and steady goes the tractor parade
Equipment stretches for 2 miles along 12-mile route during inaugural 
Tractorcade America.
Monday, October 29, 2007
By EDWARD SIEGER
The Express-Times

KNOWLTON TWP. | The trip from Belvidere to the Knowlton Township Fire 
and Rescue building really shouldn't take that long. After all, it's 
only about 13 miles, Frank Van Horn said Sunday.

But when your mode of transportation is a tractor that caroms along at 7 
or 8 mph that quick drive becomes a journey.

"One guy drove three hours before he even got to the parade," Van Horn 
joked.

About 100 tractors -- some arriving by flatbed -- converged Sunday for 
what organizers dubbed Tractorcade America, highlighting New Jersey's 
farming heritage.

Van Horn said he hoped for maybe 25 or 30 tractors after planning the 
first-time event for about four months. But the tractors and about 200 
participants stretched almost 2 miles along the nearly 12-mile route. 
Farmers from New York, Hamburg, Pa., Marlboro, N.J., and the Delmarva 
Peninsula attended the event.

Van Horn's brother-in-law, Terry Svenson, suggested the event. A native 
Nebraskan, Svenson said similar events would last for two or three days 
and cover 120 to 150 miles in the Midwest.

After the parade, farmers and their families sat side-by-side in the 
fire station, sharing stories and a chicken meal that benefited the fire 
department.

As he ran the 50/50 raffle with the flair of a carnival barker, Van Horn 
introduced a farmer who made the trip from Downingtown, Pa.

"In fact, he's been up here twice," Van Horn said. "He must have been 
bored."

When dinner was over, people walked by Van Horn shaking his hand and 
clapping him on the shoulder, thanking him for a great day.

The tractors parked outside the fire station -- some dating back to the 
1930s and 1940s -- and the farming families who joined in the procession 
represent "a snapshot of America," Van Horn said.

"I've always said that if I had to go to heaven it would be with these 
guys," he said. "They really are the salt of the earth."

Before retiring to Florida four years ago after more than 30 years 
working for the state of New Jersey, Bill Gardner sold his 1941 Farmall 
A tractor to Svenson.

The tractor ran well, but the paint was faded, showing its age. When 
Gardner arrived for the parade earlier this week, Svenson surprised him 
with a refurbished 1941 Farmall to ride in the parade.

"I was flabbergasted," Gardner said. "It looks brand new."

Gardner, who grew up in a farming family in Pohatcong Township, said the 
event is a good way to remind people of the country's farming history.

"They told me they were doing it again next year, so I said, 'Sign me 
up,'" he said.