North Jersey Antique Engine and Machinery Club, Inc..,
P. O. Box 2103, Branchville, New Jersey, 07826
The North Jersey Antique Engine & Machinery Club, Inc. held its 7th annual show in July, 1986. Our shows are located at the Sussex County Farm and Horse Show Grounds in Augusta, New Jersey. Despite the poor weather on Saturday, we had a good turnout for the weekend. Our show is held mostly under the cover of 5 huge pole barns and a tree-shaded area on the grounds, so there was virtually no problem for all exhibitors.
This year we had quite a few attractions for all to see. Starting at 10 o’clock, both days were full of activity right up till fold-up time on Sunday. Some people even came on Friday night to use the camping facilities and get set up early for the show.
Here are a few of the things we had at the show:
Bill Genader ran the club’s threshing machine with his 5 HP Fuller & Johnson Engine, (5) and Dick Haskins (1) and a couple of the other club members helped to feed and clean the machine. The demonstration drew quite a crowd. Fred Westbrook (2) had his display trailer and a feed grinder as well.
We also had about 6 or 7 flea market and crafts people in attendance from all over the state, as well as, a gentleman who came all the way from Texas (who kept us in stitches with his toy alligators). These fine people had plenty of space in one of the pole barns, and had some beautiful things for sale. (3)
One of the biggest attractions was the Kiddy Tractor Pull! The late Bob Titman had built a weight sled like the ones used on the full-sized tractors, only scaled down to be used with the kids pedal tractors. The club provided 4 Pedal tractors for the children to use if they didn’t have their own. Thanks are due to Dick Roy for supplying them to us. A run of 30 feet constituted a full pull with some kids actually dragging the sled with the wheels locked even further!
There were 5 groups of contestants with over 40 children participating. The oldest group could pull over 40 pounds! All of the entrants received an ice cream cone for their labors, and the top 3 winners in each class received a prize and a ribbon. These kids put on quite a show for us.
Also held were a slow tractor race (4) (guess who won) as well as an antique tractor pull and a tractor parade. These events were announced by club President Jim Quince. Good job, Jim! Andy Mackey made the general announcements and put on a steam engine display at the reception and sign-in desk. (6)
Saturday night was a special one for us. The band, Herb Jennings and The Jerseymen, played for 3 hours and at that time we had a dance floor open. The band will be back again at our 8th annual show that will be held on July 11 & 12th, 1987.
Thanks are also due to Stephanie and Ralph Martin, as well as, Dora Quince and George Hahl for their efforts at the food stand. The food was excellent. A thank you also goes to the ‘Dippers’ who served almost 20 gallons of the famous ‘Jacktown’ Ice Cream. We couldn’t have done it without you. Well done!
Finally, a big thank you to all of the people who displayed over 150 engines and pieces of machinery at the show, and to all of the visitors who made the show such a success.
We hope to see all of our old iron nuts and friends at the next show at the Fairgrounds in July, because before you know it, it will be Showtime again!
