Our summer show scheduled got clobbered by vacations and Covid (Barry had a mild case) so we missed a couple of our favorite shows. We were able to add the White River Valley Antique Association Show in Elnora, IN to our list.
Here is the description taken from their website –
The White River Valley Antique Association (WRVAA) Show takes a step back in time for both farmers and city folk and draws over 18,000 guests each year. This years show will have trucks, over 700 antique tractors, steam engines, horse demonstrations, field demonstrations, hay press, machine shop, wood working shop, threshing, hand dipped candles, sawmill, gristmill, largest flea market in the area, food, ice cream, and much, much more. There is a village with stores, print shop, hardware, working post office, and a bank, all in the early 1900’s. There are many activities planned and this is an event that you will not want to miss.
This may be the largest show we have attended. It certainly had the most food vendors – over 20!
The grounds are huge. Trailer parking was at least a half mile from our display site. If we attend again, we will pick a different spot. We arrived on Thursday and learned that the “regulars” show up when the grounds open Monday afternoon to pick their spots. You can see our display on the left. It was against a fence separating parking from the display grounds. Several people told us at the Brown County show held the following week that they had tried to find us and couldn’t. We did attract a number of people and collected some fun stories, but given the size of the crowd, we expected more.
With 600 to 700 tractors on display, including the 1943 Case Airborne Tractor, we were still the only Farm Jeep. In addition to tractors, there was a display of farm trucks and classic cars. We joked that we could display in all three categories. It was pointed out the the classic cars got the nice shaded area. Maybe next year.
We failed to get pictures of the demonstration area. In addition to tractor and steam powered demonstration their were horses, powering machines via a two horse treadmill.
This is a great show to visit and I suspect we will return one day.
Brown County Indiana
The Brown County Antique Machinery Show is our “home” show since it is only 20 minutes away (as compared to the 90 minute drive to Elnora). It was our first show and still a favorite.
With a much smaller show, we had a chance to spread out. We included Barry’s Gladiator and our friend Craig’s 1948 CJ2a in the display. A highlight of the show is Friday morning visit of middle schoolers, who invade the show each year. It is great fun talking to the kids (and their teachers) about the history of the Jeeps and how they are real transformers.
This John Deere 420 tractor was used by the Navy. We didn’t have a chance to talk to the owner, so don’t know the story. But coupled with the Case Airborne tractor at Elnora, it makes use want to research military uses of farm tractors.