Enjoy nostalgia of Tri-State show

It’s that time again.
Time for engines and tractors. Time for thousands of out of town, out of state, and out of the U.S. visitors to descend on Jay County.
Time for garage sales and flea markets and golf carts by the score. Time for people in need of directions and time for renewing old friendships.
For the 51st time, the Tri-State Gas Engine and Tractor Association’s show will be the headliner among all local events.
From humble beginnings — a love of old engines on the part of the late Woody Turner and a handful of his buddies — it’s grown to be the largest event of its type in the world.
Along the way, it’s preserved an important part of rural American history, the old gasoline engines that used to power everything from pumps to washing machines in the days before rural electrification. And it’s shared a love of machinery — old engines, old tractors and old contraptions — with a couple of other generations.
When the Tri-State show was born, the core group had grown up with old gas engines. Restoring them was an act of nostalgia rooted in childhood.
Today’s engine enthusiasts weren’t alive when those old engines and tractors were first put to use.
In some cases, their parents and grandparents hadn’t even been born.
So keeping that history alive in the 21st century is particularly remarkable. It pays homage to a past way of life that otherwise might be forgotten.
In doing so, the show brings folks together face-to-face — away from their computers and TV screens — to interact the way people used to do back in the day when those old engines and old tractors were fired up for the first time. And that’s important.
Renew old friendships and enjoy the week. — J.R.