The I.H. Collectors Club National and Worldwide’s 4th Annual ‘Red Power Round Up,’ and the I.H. Collectors, Missouri Chapter’s 2nd Annual ‘Show Me I.H.’, held at the Missouri River Valley Steam Engine Assn., Show at Boonville, Missouri, September 9-12, 1993 was billed as ‘I.H. Heaven’. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect. Partly cloudy with lows in the 60s, and highs in the 80s.
Nearly ten acres were filled with over 630 I.H. exhibits. The I.H. feature portion of the show was laid out beautifully with red and white pennant banners, and in huge big top tents. I.H. tractors, numbering around 356, were displayed by model, with the oldest progressing to the newest. Titans, Moguls, motor cultivators, 8-16 Internationals, Regulars, F series, letter series, and finally number series tractors.
The tractor displays included almost every model, and ended up in a special big top tent containing the last Farmall built, the #5488 out of the Case Museum, the earliest known experimental Regular, the first no till planter from Purdue University, and Tractor the I.H. Robot. Small and large I.H. engines numbering over 50 were housed in, and around another special big top tent.
Two more huge big tops housed over 20 I.H. vendors, and over 85 smaller item I.H. displays, ranging from belt buckles, refrigerators, deep freezes, hat displays, toys, pedal tractors, literature displays, memorabilia displays, signs and other collectable I.H. items too numerous to mention.
Fifty-three pieces of I.H. equipment graced the machinery area. Action demonstrations with all the IH machines, were conducted daily, threshing, bailing, corn shredding, corn shelling, etc. Numerous restored plows, cultivators, mowers, wagon loaders, mills, combines, loaders, disks, spreaders etc. added to the machinery area. Of special interest were a model M, and a Super C tractor, both with mounted corn pickers, a restored 52R combine, and a 1948 H-14 cotton picker.
I.H. trucks lined up out front, creating an impressive display of 65 various units, along Interstate 70. Numerous I.H. road rigs would give them the ‘Toot Salute’ in passing.
The I.H. Collectors Club National and Worldwide, operated a club information and membership sign-up booth in the Headquarters Tent. I understand that well over 100 new members were signed up.The Club was also represented by Hoover Promotions, which did a brisk business selling club promotional items. The I.H. Collectors Missouri Chapter operated the host show’s I.H. Headquarters, I.H. registration area, and a Missouri Chapter promotional booth. Twenty-seven new Missouri Chapter members were signed up.
The I.H. Heaven video sales of the show sold well, with nearly 600 copies on order by the end of the show. Kansas and Iowa Chapters also had promotional booths. The Beaver Valley group from Hookstown, Pa., handed out information on the 1994 Red River Round Up. The I.H. Special Feature Parade on Saturday lasted three solid hours. It was incredible and the grandstands stayed full throughout.
The National and Missouri Chapter membership meetings were both well attended. The M.R.V.S.E.A. 30th An-niversary/4th Annual Red River Round Up gold-plated belt buckle auction went well, with the high set selling for $250.00, and the low set selling for $85.00. The average across the 10 sets was $122.50.
A hand quilted I.H. quilt was also auctioned off for the ladies, and brought $400.00. Show records reflect that at least 33 states, and three foreign countries were represented at this show. Paid gate attendance at the show was approximately 10,000, doubling previous attendance records. Not bad for Ozark country boys, competing against Mother Nature’s Great Floods of 1993. Everywhere at the show you could hear folks talking, and commenting favorably on the show. As the 4th Annual Red Power Round Up chairman, literally hundreds of folks approached me offering their congratulations, and expressing their total satisfaction. The one comment heard most often was, ‘This is going to be a tough act for the future Red Power Round Up host shows to follow’.
All I can say to that is, #1, Thank you! and #2, Let’s all keep the momentum going, and the adrenaline flowing for our beloved I.H. Let’s do it all again. I hope to see you all at the I.H. Collectors 1994 Winter Convention at Elgin, Illinois, March 4-6,1994, and at the 5th Annual Red Power Round Up at the Beaver Valley Antique Show in Hookstown, Pa., Sept. 16-18, 1994.
By the way, the I.H. Collectors Missouri Chapter will be doing all this again next year (on slightly smaller scale) at their 3rd annual ‘Show Me I.H.’ to be held at the Macon County Flywheel &. Collectibles Show at Macon, Missouri, July 28-31, 1994- You all come now, you’re sure invited!
