Box 4 Ursa, Illinois 62376
This past year’s show was a lot bigger than the shows of the
past two years. The Adams County Fair was getting ready for its
50th year anniversary in 1991. They wanted some old farm machinery
on display for the past two years. The interest was so great that a
club was formed. The mascot for the 50th year was a model
‘T’ Leaping Lena and 200 small models were made and sold.
Last year we also featured the Quincy, Illinois engine, and five
out of the eight known showed up. The grandson of the inventor of
the Quincy was on hand to see his grandfather’s engines run
again.
Our new antique and craft building was finished a week before
the show. We had the 20 HP Advance-Rumely steam engine on the saw
mill, the Oil Pull and a John Deere tractor on the threshing
machine. We threshed all five days of the fair and baled all the
straw with a hand tie baler run by a 6 HP Fairbanks Morse engine.
We even had our 96th District State Rep., Art Tenhouse, help us
pitch straw in the baler; he’s an old farm boy also. It was hot
in July and we boiled a dozen eggs in the water hopper of the
engine.
We had a saw cutting contest, rope making, wood carving, apple
peeling, chair caning, corn shelling and grinding. The antique
tractor pull, horse pull and an antique car and truck show were
enjoyed by all. The ham and bean dinner was cooked by Dean Searls,
our club president, with his Vs scale 65 Case steam engine on
Sunday for the exhibitors. There were about 30 antique cars and
trucks, 16 gas engines, 48 tractors, three combines, one bulldozer
and 50 pieces of horse machinery. The antique and craft building
was full of pedal tractors, buggies, tools, barb wire, and the 1941
room displays. The club is holding a swap meet at the fairgrounds
April 25, 26, 1992; the show at the fair this year will be held
July 31 through August 4. This year we are featuring F.M. engines
and Massey Harris tractors. We hope this year’s show will be
bigger and better; come join us!
