August 30, 2016 at 5:28 p.m.
Tri-State show is about friendships
Editorial
There’s a funny thing about the Tri-State Gas Engine and Tractor Association Show.
It’s not really about engines and tractors.
There are engines and tractors to be sure, and plenty of them, but last week’s show at Jay County Fairgrounds is about much more than antique machines. It’s about fathers and sons, far-flung friends, men and women travel hundreds, sometimes thousands, of miles to gather together.
The stories we told last week proved as much.
There was the man from Bluffton, Ohio, who was up late Sunday night getting his area prepared. He recalled attending his first show with his grandfather, reminiscing about the good times he had selling apple butter with his grandparents in his youth.
There was the father and son who rebuilt an engine together after it had collected dust for 14 years. They gathered each Wednesday with their wives for dinner, the men then heading out to work after the meal was done.
There were the father and son firefighters who had spent about a decade trying to purchase a tractor that was modified for use in their profession. There were Tennessee buddies who restored a 1910 model engine, the same model that powered the first presidential yacht for Woodrow Wilson, over the course of two decades. And there was the Parker City man who has kept his International tractor painted blue in honor of his friend, the former owner who is now confined to a nursing home.
And those are just the handful of the examples that made it into print last week.
Take a stroll through the fairgrounds during the Tri-State show and you’ll find everybody has a story to tell. Whether they’re hardcore collectors or weekend hobbyists, they want to talk about their treasures — the process they went through to get them, how long the restoration took, what they’re most prized pieces are. And their desire to chat is not at all contingent on whether or not you’re carrying a reporter’s notebook.
It doesn’t matter if tractors and engines are your thing or not. The CR’s newsroom certainly has no life-long farmers, mechanics or gearheads. But a good story is a good story, and the Tri-State show is full of them.
We enjoyed your company. We enjoyed your tales. And we look forward to seeing you — our friends — back next year. — R.C.
It’s not really about engines and tractors.
There are engines and tractors to be sure, and plenty of them, but last week’s show at Jay County Fairgrounds is about much more than antique machines. It’s about fathers and sons, far-flung friends, men and women travel hundreds, sometimes thousands, of miles to gather together.
The stories we told last week proved as much.
There was the man from Bluffton, Ohio, who was up late Sunday night getting his area prepared. He recalled attending his first show with his grandfather, reminiscing about the good times he had selling apple butter with his grandparents in his youth.
There was the father and son who rebuilt an engine together after it had collected dust for 14 years. They gathered each Wednesday with their wives for dinner, the men then heading out to work after the meal was done.
There were the father and son firefighters who had spent about a decade trying to purchase a tractor that was modified for use in their profession. There were Tennessee buddies who restored a 1910 model engine, the same model that powered the first presidential yacht for Woodrow Wilson, over the course of two decades. And there was the Parker City man who has kept his International tractor painted blue in honor of his friend, the former owner who is now confined to a nursing home.
And those are just the handful of the examples that made it into print last week.
Take a stroll through the fairgrounds during the Tri-State show and you’ll find everybody has a story to tell. Whether they’re hardcore collectors or weekend hobbyists, they want to talk about their treasures — the process they went through to get them, how long the restoration took, what they’re most prized pieces are. And their desire to chat is not at all contingent on whether or not you’re carrying a reporter’s notebook.
It doesn’t matter if tractors and engines are your thing or not. The CR’s newsroom certainly has no life-long farmers, mechanics or gearheads. But a good story is a good story, and the Tri-State show is full of them.
We enjoyed your company. We enjoyed your tales. And we look forward to seeing you — our friends — back next year. — R.C.
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