Tractor Show 2009

Colby looks forward to the tractor show every year!


Checking out his tractor tires.


Colby climbed on the Allis Chalmer to take a picture for Pa.


I'm having so much fun Mom and Dad!


Colby is clearly a John Deere man!

On Saturday Jeremy and I took Colby to the 2009 Antique Tractor and Hit and Miss Engine Show at the WKU Ag Expo Center. We have been to this event for the past two years and Colby LOVES it. This year there were about 60 tractors. He loves to climb up on the seats and pretend to drive, and luckily the owners love seeing kids on the tractors!

AFter we had been there for a while we were approached by Jim Gaines, a reporter for the Daily News in Bowling Green. He interviewed me and Colby. I have pasted in a copy of the article into this blog.

The wheels of time
WKU Ag Expo Center hosts Antique Tractor/Hit & Miss Engine Show to help promote agriculture’s importance

By JIM GAINES, The Daily News, jgaines@bgdailynews.com
Saturday, January 17, 2009 11:59 PM CST


Four-year-old Colby Vincent gives a shy smile and shrug when asked why he likes antique tractors, but the answer to questions about his favorite make is swift and definite: John Deere, as anyone might guess from the logo on his green sweatshirt.

He had his fill of John Deeres from decades past, along with Allis-Chalmers, Farm-Alls, Fords and many other colorful brands on Saturday at the third annual Antique Tractor/Hit & Miss Engine Show at Western Kentucky University’s L.D. Brown Agricultural Exposition Center.

“He loves it. Anything that has to do with tractors he’s interested in and wants to be a part of,” said Colby’s mother, Brooke Vincent of Rocky Hill. She and her husband, Jeremy, brought Colby to the show sponsored by the Warren County Antique Tractor & Engine Club, and Colby peered happily at the stationary engines chugging away, pumping out clouds of blue exhaust over the 50 or so tractors on display.

“We’ve taken about 100 pictures and he’s climbed on most of the tractors,” Brooke Vincent said.

They come every year for good family fun, feeding Colby’s enthusiasm for tractors - he’s got a fleet of models, lined up and played with regularly, and knows all the major makes, she said.

That’s the sort of knowledge the club hopes to impart through the show, organizer Linda Dickerson said.

“This is a wonderful way to tell children of the importance of agriculture,” she said.

The group was formed to promote interest in the history and importance of agriculture, Dickerson said. In fact, the event sparks memories for many of the club’s 65 members who grew up on farms, she said.

“And they’re good memories,” Dickerson said.

The group’s Web site, www.wcatec.us, offers pictures and video of members and their 80 or so antique tractors, along with historical and contact information.

Dickerson said she was glad to see a crowd around the tractors, including many children like Colby.

“Considering the weather, we’ve got a real good turnout,” she said.

At center stage sat a 1919 Fordson owned by Stephen Haynes of Bowling Green. He bought the rust-red machine with steel wheels from Wisconsin three years ago through a tractor magazine. It runs, but isn’t fully restored, Haynes said.

“This is the first time we’ve had it out where anyone can see it,” he said.

The tractor is a product of Henry Ford, who brought his son into the business - hence the name, Haynes said. Ford started making them for farm families in England and Canada that had lost horses, men or both to World War I, he said. Haynes owns five antique tractors, including the 1937 International F-12 his father bought new for $631; its long use sparked his interest in the machines’ historic importance.

The show’s $3 adult admission will benefit the expo center and the ag scholarship fund at WKU. The club is glad to work with Tim Jones, expo center director, to operate the show, Dickerson said.

“They do the concessions, and we do the tractors,” she said.