Annual show attracts bargain hunters

Tractors, engines everywhere and not a golf cart to spare. Many people consider the abundance of antique machinery and people in Portland this week to be pure heaven.
I know my brothers do. Me, not so much.
There is one benefit that I enjoy. The loud cars find it difficult to speed down the streets because of all the golf carts moseying along. For some reason not being able to rush to the nearest stop sign seems to make the drivers turn down the music. I often think I am the only one in the world who finds sound to be painful.
Traffic is apt to come to an abrupt halt at any given moment as the magnetic attraction of the many garage sales compels the driver to stop and browse. Are they expecting to find that one priceless item that will land them a spot on Antiques Roadshow or the one that will enable them to retire?
Another thing I enjoy about the Tri-State Antique Gas Engine and Tractor Show is the variety of people. It amazes me that they come from so far away. I enjoy hearing the different accents.
One of these days I would like to bring my daughter and her family up here for this extravaganza. Between the wall-to-wall garage sales and the tractor parade, I doubt if any of them have seen anything like it in Texas.
Blazing oil wells and rodeos can't compare to street after street of people wanting to sell the stuff they just had to have once upon a time. Grits and fried okra can't compete with vegetables gathered that morning and sold at the Farmer's Market the same day.
Before we moved here, the closest thing I had seen to the tractor show was the annual Steam Thresher exhibition in Greenville, Ohio. We used to go every year. I never was that interested in all that but it was a day out of the ordinary and the rest of the family looked forward to it.
That is part of the attraction of the Tri-State show. The people we love enjoy reminiscing about the old machinery. They like remembering how it was back when the tractors on display were new and shiny and they were young.
We like seeing the far away look in their eyes as they point to an orange tractor and tell us that it is just like the one their grandmother almost tipped over in the back hayfield.
Then they digress into other tales and it becomes a mini history lesson about a time before rampant technology was king and life was slower.
Life is still slower in this little town than it is in many places. The air is clean and the people are friendly. Mostly. Crime ranges from petty to non-existant. Usually.
I hope that the visitors enjoy their time here. I hope that one of them does end up on Antiques Roadshow.
For one week our town will be overrun with people and memories of time gone by. Then the town will go back to sleep until next year when the tractors migrate back to Portland again.
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