Family visits for Tri-State show

It is tractor and engine week. I know that is not quite what it is called, but saying The Tri-State Gas Engine and Tractor Show is a bit of a mouthful. It is billed as the “World’s Largest Gas Engine and Tractor Show.”

It is also clean out your house week, which goes hand in hand with yard sale week. And we mustn't forget golf cart week. I am always surprised that more people aren’t hurt by golf carts as the drivers tend to stop on a whim and hand signals are seldom used. 

I feel the need to warn visitors that if you ask for directions you will be instructed to turn where something used to be or someone used to live and not the name of a particular road. We can and will let you know of a shortcut around whatever road construction you may happen upon.

If you see something you want that is not for sale, make the owner an offer anyway. At worst, you will find a friend. At best you will go home with something you hadn’t known you wanted.

At some point one or both of my brothers will stop by. My brother, Michael, specializes in rust-covered nonworking junk, I mean treasures. His wife has her own specialities. They both usually return happy with their new finds.

My other brother, David, is a little more discerning and tends to go for collectable lighters and other odds and ends. His wife tends to go for more decorative items. The only reason I go traipsing through the various booths is to spend time with them. It seems that the older we get the more we need a reason to get together.

I have found that many of the vendors have a regular route they follow. They spend a good bit of their time at one show or another. Selling stuff can take a backseat to meeting up with old friends and catching up on their lives.

Sometimes we time it right so we can see the tractors and engines do what they were designed to do. That usually prompts people to say that modern machinery would never last as long as the antiques have. They seem to ignore all the work and dollars that have gone into the displays.

For my family, the tractor show is a time to rehash the past. Sometime during the show one or both of my brothers will say, “Remember when Grandma almost tipped the tractor over?” Even though neither of them were born when that happened. They have heard the story so often that it has become part of their past.

By the time they were big enough to start the tractor, our grandmother’s time aboard the hand-cranked orange beast had long passed. She had become a little old lady instead of a powerful and strong woman.

At some point during the show it will pour down rain. If we are lucky it will be a little shower but if not, it is wise to prepare to get a bit muddy.

The tractor show brings a lot of people to our town. It is a chance to meet new friends and reconnect with old ones. I hope you enjoy the time you spend with us and take home a new treasure that will remind you of the time you spent here.