88825 Claysville Road, Cambridge, Ohio 43725
Once again, there was a gigantic reunion of farmers, friends and
antique lovers who got together to watch, operate, or to hear run
antique farm tractors and machinery of the not too distant past.
For many this opened up a floodgate of memories. For the young
folks, a whole new awakening to the golden age of farm equipment
was theirs to learn.
This reunion was the 3rd annual Freeland Valley Antique Power
Show held on July 30 and 31, on the Delmar Warne show field, five
miles east of Chandlersville, Ohio.
Weatherwise, it was a perfect weekend, except for the members of
the Freeland Club, who had to cancel their tractor pulls on Friday
evening after a cloudburst muddied the pulling field and made it
right slippery.
There were quite a few folks who came from far and near to see
the show and all the goings-on. Even the mayors of Cumberland and
Toadtown were there.
New improvements to the show field included new playground
equipment for the kids, and a new permanent stage constructed. The
steel frame was donated by Central Ohio Coal Company, the floor by
Paul Alexander.
A new safety barrier fence was built between the pulling track
and the spectator field. This fence was donated by Charlie Roberts
of the Cumberland Fence Company.
At the show, there were lots of demonstrations and
craftsmanship. Bill Ault operated the saw mill and sawed a batch of
logs into boards. This was a learning experience.
George Richey skillfully made useful things for the household as
the blacksmith; he has learned well in the couple of years he has
practiced this ancient art. His wife Helen demonstrated the use of
a reflector oven, whereas the heat from a small campfire simply
reflected from the top and bottom of the inside of the open oven to
bake brownies and corn bread which I sampled. Very tasty. On the
same fire, homemade soup was heated in a kettle.
Gordon Jividen ground up corn in a burr mill powered by belt
from a small gas engine. The corn stalks were shredded using Lynn
Hall’s shredder-husker; the corn was provided by Paul
Alexander.
Firewood was cut up not by chain-saw, but by an old circular
cut-off saw owned by Carl Wickham. This was also belt powered.
Wheat was grown, cut and bound up on the site. It was threshed
by using Lynn Hall’s threshing machine; the wheat straw was
blown into Bill Ault’s hay baler, thus baling the straw
excellently.
The oldest gas engine shown was by Robert Stewert of Newport,
Ohio. The best of show gas engine was awarded to George Lewis, of
Zanesville. The farthest distance traveled for bringing gas engines
was Michael Rogers of Silver City, North Carolina, and Lee Booth of
Porter Falls, West Virginia. The oldest driver of the tractor pull
was 75-year-old Jim McIntire, who drove his tractor all the way
from out past Young Hickory and back.
The big surprise in the crank start tractor race was Paul
Brosie, who showed how fast he could run. The winner of the crank
start tractor race was Keith Herron. The winner of the electric
starter tractor race was Kevin Funk. The winner of the wagon
backing contest was Andy Ault.
There were around 80 antique tractors on display. It was noted
by show veterans that there was quite a variety of makes and models
of tractors, especially those on steel wheels.
All kinds of antique exhibits were there, from an old OilPull
tractor to a 1930s power reel lawnmower. All told, there were over
100 exhibits.
Members of the Zane Grey Old Car Club came to the show on
Saturday afternoon, 15 cars in all. The oldest was Danny
Wolfe’s 1924 Studebaker touring car. They had been to the Wilds
and to the Big Muskie Dragline. And Bruce McConnell drove his 1930
Model A Ford to the show, also on Saturday, and parked in front of
the Moore oil house for a pretended fill-up of gas from one of the
old gas pumps.
There were tractors being driven around the field for the fun of
it. The tiniest was Harold Pollock’s little half-scale Rumely
tractor that he built from scratch, and which he completed in 1969
for his son Jerry. Only now, Jerry and Martha Pollock’s
four-year-old son Robert gets to pilot the miniature gas powered
tractor his grandfather had created!
And too, there were Tommy Hatcher’s one-quarter scale and
half-scale steam engine tractors that he had built. They were there
on the field running around.
There were two horse-drawn shuttle rides in operation. One was
Myron and Sharon Dawson’s big team of Belgian horses pulling
Charles ‘Chalk’ Hayes’ red wagon. The other wagon was
owned by Paul Alexander. It was pulled by Don Ziler’s team of
Belgians.
There were, for sale, miniature toy tractors, old farm and
tractor manuals, wooden toys, arts and crafts, and yes, plenty of
food. The Cumberland Volunteer Fire Department volunteers have that
down pat. Their food was good!
The kids and their parents of the Cumberland Valley 4-H
organization worked their hearts out, I’ll tell you! They made
lemonade and mountains of homemade ice cream. 160 gallons of it was
sold in two days!
And there was an inflatable starwalk station. This was where
kids got to jump up and down and around on aired up mattresses on
three sides. They couldn’t hurt themselves.
And nobody was hurt during the entire show. Just fun and
happiness prevailed. Like life should be and will be again next
year at the next Freeland Valley Antique Power Club’s Show
that’s for our community good and for preserving our heritage.
The fourth annual show will be held July 29 and 30, 1995.