Amboy, Minnesota 56010
From Hickok and son, Tom, Amboy, Minnesota comes a big, big
Thank You to all you people from all over our fifty states and
foreign countries that came so far to attend our Farm Fest 76
U.S.A. at Lake Crystal, Minnesota which is about thirty miles from
us.
‘WE THANK YOU’ – Mrs. Hickok and myself and Tom and his
family were there for six days of it. It was no less than an
enormous exhibition showing everything that one could think of or
imagine. As we talk about it now and think of how really big it
was, it seems that as many, many engine men as there are, we really
had a very small piece of it.
Most of the antiques at Farm Fest were donated for the showing.
Farm Fest hauled in and delivered back most of the tractors and
antique machinery. It came from all over the U.S.A.
It’s a bit different with gas engines. No good engine man is
going to let someone load his engines on a truck and start off
across the country; anyway we’re Not going to! When our engines
go, we go with ’em.
We have made a policy now that we think is fair to all
concerned. Everyone knows that it costs a lot of money to own,
maintain, transport and operate these engines at the shows. We do
it this way – if it’s a parade on a good will thing, no charge;
but if there is a charge of any kind we get paid or we don’t
show. Some shows are a bit different, as most all the people
working there are doing it for free and the money all stays in the
organization; they do try and pay one’s feast expenses.
To my knowledge there were only three engine men showing at Farm
Fest, Hickok & Son showed eleven engines including the 6 HP
Monitor. Lori Hickok, Tom’s daughter, nine years old, showed
her 4 HP Galloway and Little Bill Hickok showed his 1? HP Galloway,
air-cooled. Our Little Bill is 5 years old and every bit an engine
man.
Mr. Frank Beas from Wells, Minnesota showed some nice engines
for a seed corn company. Mr. Beas is a man that every one should
have for a friend.
Hank Baumgard and sons, Fred and Ray, had a wonderful showing of
beautifully restored engines that included their 10 HP Witte
diesel.
Hickok’s wood splitter always seems to draw a crowd.
Sometimes we even wonder if they’re not just waiting for the
old man to lose a finger or two-Ha!
I really believe that it would be impossible to imagine that
anyone could even show their engines to so many people in the same
period of time ever again. The news reported 168,000 gate
attendance on Saturday and the engine show got its share. Between
the whistle on the old Monitor and the splitter, we always had a
crowd, especially when the old man could talk some pretty chick to
try her hand at the wood splitter.
The first day was Monday and the tremendous rain made Farm Fest
a sea of mud. Tuesday, it was still muddy, but not so bad.
Wednesday, we had a wonderful crowd and a very busy day. There were
so many spectators, it was hard to get through them to gas up our
engines.
Thursday, we had another real big day, except some dirty so and
so stole one of our oilers. Friday was another good day with
thousands of people and so much to see. Tom took off his job Friday
and took over for his Pa. I was all in; it’s really hard work
with those engines.
As I stated before, Saturday was the biggest day of all. Then
Sunday came and again it rained. The gates were closed until noon
and it was still a nightmare of mud and water. The crowd was only
about 70,000. It was almost impossible to believe that so many
people would be there walking around in that mud, bare footed or
their shoes were soaking wet.
Well, anyway we ran our engines and split our wood, and changed
clothes when we got too wet. It was a long afternoon. That night we
loaded our engines and our split up wood on our two pick-ups and
our flat bed. We plowed mud ten inches deep to get them out on the
highways. We got ’em home and it almost seemed like the engines
were even glad it was over. That old saying (there’s no place
like home) is really true.
Tom had to work Monday, so I went alone back over to the Farm
Fest to help Baumgards get their engines home. Again, it was
impossible to believe the overwhelming magnitude of Farm Fest.
Hundreds of exhibitors, some from many miles away, trying to get in
and out of the 1600 acres that incorporated Farm Fest.
Such things as the road block! I don’t know how long I
waited to get in and out to haul some of Baumgard’s
engines.
It may be hard for some of you to believe that we meet people
from several foreign countries. Two of them were a farmer and his
wife from South Africa. We had just a wonderful visit with them and
they invited us to come see them for a month any time. Four young
farmers were there from Germany and we had a good visit with them.
Also people from Holland, Japan, Phillipines, Hawaii and many
others.
I really and truly wish that every one of you and your families
could have been here and seen Farm Fest.
Now again we say Thank You and come see us sometime, we’ll
have coffee!
