Show veterans

Only a handful are left.
But at least three plan to be at the Tri-State Gas Engine and Tractor Association’s 46th annual show this week at the Jay County Fairgrounds.
Fifteen gasoline engine collectors got together in Portland in January of 1966 to form the Tri-State club.
Five are believed to be alive, though they’re all “up in years,” said association president Jack Rouch.
The surviving five charter members are Morris Titus, now living in Florida; Stanley Palmer, Fort Wayne; Dave Hess, Pleasant Hill, Ohio; Lynn Palmer, Churubusco; and Tom Sommer, who lives near the villages of Deerfield and Randolph in northern Randolph County. They are all in their 70s and 80s.
Sommer, 75, will not only be attending this year’s show, he’ll be exhibiting some of his prized Silver King tractors as well.
Lynn Palmer was already roaming the grounds on Saturday and is camped on the engine association property. “We brought the motor home two weeks ago,” said Palmer, 73. “My boy and I, we’re showing garden tractors. … And we always can find something for the Trading Post.”
His brother Stan will be arriving later.
“The first year, they only had 500 paying gate fees,” Sommer said last week. “That was in Fort Recovery. … We didn’t make any money that year (1966).”
“The second year we got in with the fair board in Portland, and the third year we had some profit,” he added.
A core group — association president Woody Turner, Sommer as vice president, Titus as secretary-treasurer, and directors Luther Breymier, Wayne Whitenack, Ray Stahl, Dave Hess, and Lynn Palmer — was at the heart of making the show happen in those early years.
“Woody Turner was the ramrod,” said Sommer.
The charter members had gotten to know each other while exhibiting at other shows in Indiana and Ohio. They were all gas engine people, and they sometimes felt a little friction when showing at events geared to steam engines.
So they decided to have a show of their own, where steam engines were welcome but the spotlight would be on gasoline engines and tractors.
Turner served as president of the association for several years and endlessly promoted the event. He was also instrumental in a number of changes over the years, including the addition of bluegrass entertainment in the evenings.
Those early shows, Sommer recalled, barely filled the portion of the fairgrounds where the midway is located during the Jay County Fair.
Campers and tents surrounded the area where the Boy Scout cabin is located, and exhibitors often gathered at night around a campfire.
And today’s show? “It’s big,” said Sommer. “They have more problems.”
That first show saw 36 engines, four tractors, two steam engines, and two antique trucks displayed.
This week’s show is expected to feature as many as 3,000 engines and perhaps as many as 500 tractors. It will stretch beyond the original fairgrounds onto 40 acres to the north and onto association-owned land to the east on the former Schisler farm.
“When we first started out, we had a lot of help,” said Sommer. He served as vice president for two years, then served another seven years as a director.
The key to the Tri-State show’s success, said Lynn Palmer, is its focus.
“This show is for exhibitors,” he said. The association keeps registration and camping fees low in order to attract as many exhibitors as possible. And if you have enough exhibitors, the spectators are sure to follow.
Sommer’s been a regular at the show since the beginning. “I’ve been to all of them, I think,” he said.
“I haven’t made it every year,” said Palmer. “In the ’80s my job kept me away.”
“I showed gas engines for four or five years there,” Sommer said. “I’ve still got about 12 to 14.” That includes his favorite, a Maytag gasoline engine that originally powered a washing machine. He acquired it in Antiville.
Like many engine enthusiasts, Sommer is also a tractor collector, buying and restoring and rescuing vintage pieces of agricultural history over the years.
His collection includes eight Silver Kings and one Plymouth. The Plymouth and most of the Silver Kings were produced by the Fate-Root-Heath Manufacturing Co. in Plymouth, Ohio.
After legal squabbles with Chrysler Corporation, the name was changed to Silver King, even though the tractor-maker won the lawsuit. The Plymouth was manufactured in 1934. Sommer acquired it in the late 1960s and restored it to mint condition.
Sommer also has three Olivers, a John Deere, and two Fords.
He’s a life member of the Randolph Antique Club and will join fellow club members for what has become a tradition, driving in caravan style to the Tri-State show via backroads in Randolph and Jay counties.
“I’m gonna drive down,” Sommer said. “I usually set up with the Randolph Club.”
In recent years, the Randolph Club’s exhibit has been just east of the horse barns on the former Schisler land.[[In-content Ad]]