94 percent of our audience of Rural Lifestyle publications, Farm Collector, Gas Engine Magazine, Grit & Mother Earth News, participate in recreational outdoor activities. Much of that includes hunting, fishing and camping. So we knew the Las Vegas SHOT show (Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade Show) would be the perfect place to learn more about the industry, meet new advertisers and network. And it was!

The show was held January 15-18, 2013 at the Sands Expo Center in Las Vegas. The event is owned and sponsored by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF). I attended with my colleague Sheila Kearney. We had the opportunity to see the newest products in firearms, ammo, cutlery, outdoor apparel, optics and related technology.

According to the website, this is the largest trade show of its kind in the world and the fifth largest trade show in Vegas. There were more than 62,000 people in attendance and 1,600 exhibitors filled booth space covering 630,000 net square feet, but the show is a trade-only event; it is not open to the public. 

We met a lot of the marketing contacts for many of the “big guns” (pun intended), like Ruger, Remington, Winchester, Smith & Wesson, Nikon, just too many to mention! 

Here’s the WR Case & Sons Knives booth and the Rokon all-terrain motorcycle. Sheila had a pedometer and we figured out on just one day of walking the show, we walked 8 miles!

Because the Outdoor Channel is a pinnacle sponsor, we also had the chance to run into many “celebrities”, like Bruce from The Swamp People, the guys from Gold Rush,  Nick Mundt of The Bone Collectors, and even Ted Nugent.

Bruce from The Swamp People 

The guys from Gold Rush 

Ted Nugent 

We got to meet and greet with country singer and avid deer hunter Craig Morgan, who I had also seen at the 2009 Red Power Round Up in Madison, Wisconsin. He signed my Farm Collector and Sheila’s copy of Grit!

Craig Morgan 

Below is Jeff Foxworthy. We got to talk to him walking down the aisle at the show, too. We went to visit Rick’s Restoration (a TV show that is a spin-off from Pawn Stars); Harris International Labs has a product called Evapo-Rust and Rick from the show is their spokesperson. Their ads, with Rick, can be seen in Farm Collector, Gas Engine Magazine and Motorcycle Classics.

You can visit www.shotshow.org to learn more about this event.

See you down the road!

“…funny thing happened on the way to the Old Thresher’s Reunion this year…” I made a detour and stopped at the Farm Progress show in Boone, Iowa. A monster of a show, Farm Progress is held in Boone, and alternates in Decatur, Illinois every other year. The Boone site has nearly 85 acres, and the show occupies an additional 300 acres for field demonstrations, plus 180 acres for visitor parking. And I think I parked on the 179th acre! The dates this year were August 28-30, 2012. Next year you can visit Decatur, Illinois on August 27-29, 2013 to see the show, and for more info you can go to www.farmprogress.com.

I didn’t spend enough time to see everything, but I got a taste of the show. Here’s one of our advertisers, Worthington, Ag Parts.
 

Several antique tractor clubs display their old iron on Antique Row.
 

I got to watch Orion Samuelson and Max Armstrong on stage. 
 

Moving on to the Old Threshers Reunion down the road in Mt Pleasant, the show dates were August 30-September 3, 2012. As has been our tradition, Farm Collector and Gas Engine Magazine are represented in a big tent area set up just east of the Grandstand and the food building. (A very strategic placing for those of us who work the booth. It’s close by the delicious meals, rib eye sandwiches and ice cream, to make sure we keep our strength up!)
 

And the daily Cavalcade of Power parade participants motor right by our tent, so we get a great view! 
 

Allis Chalmers was the tractor feature this year and it was also the Stickney gas engine reunion as well.
 

I always appreciate the fantastic prizes many of our advertisers donate. We get so many people who stop in to enter the prize drawing. And I love that every year someone stops in just to tell me that they got a prize last year and were so excited that they had actually won! See, you really can win, so stop in next year and enter! Here’s a picture of the prizes from this past show.
 

On Saturday we got some rain and I snapped this picture of these little girls. They know how to enjoy a puddle without getting too wet, and maybe the fashion craze will catch on!
 

Running around the grounds filling up gas tanks, I loved the PEP Gas boys' shirts! 
 

The Midwest Old Threshers Association opened a new Welcome Center on the grounds this year, a super addition and a testament to the continued growth of the association and the hobby!

It’s always fun to be a part of this show with tractors, engines, steam engines, villages, trains, trolleys, concerts … It’s a hopping place to be every Labor Day weekend. The next show is August 29-Sept. 2, 2013. See www.oldthreshers.org for details!

See you down the road!

According to Board Member Al Confer, the Tri-State Gas Engine Assn. has seen an average of 65,000 to 75,000 in attendance at their shows, and one year they got an estimated count of 96,000at the Tri-State Gas Engine Show! A real testament to the popularity of the antique tractor and engine hobby.

People, golf carts, tractors, and hey, what was that…!? All kinds of ways to get to that next place on the show grounds to see anything and everything. The vendors and exhibitors are lined up for rows and rows, and every year it seems to get bigger. With vendors selling whatever you need for that restoration or fixer upper, and anything collectible, you will surely find what your little old iron heart desires. There are field demonstrations and activities plus a craft and flea market area, too.

This year the feature was Case tractors and Kentucky-built engines. 

This was my mode of transportation this year! Kind of a mobile work station! 

Just as an example of some of the interesting sights to see, how about this? An old carnival ride tub mounted on a trailer. Get in and take a spin, it’s great for parties, and it’s for sale!! 

This guy greets everyone coming and going at the show. Love his outfit! 

And this couple knows how to see the show in style. This is Ralph, Jr. and Tammy Hart of Newberry, Indiana. 

Here are a few more show photos.

Come see the show next year August 21-25, 2013. And don’t forget there are Swap Meets in May and October!

Visit www.tristategasenginetractor.com, for more information.

See you down the road! 

Testing the waters in a different area than we are used to, we are finding that the stats for the outdoor, hunting, fishing and camping categories rank high with our Farm Collector and Gas Engine Magazine subscribers as well as the Grit and Mother Earth News readers. In light of that, I got to attend the Buckmaster Expo with colleagues Sheila Kearney and Denise Wiscombe. The Expo was held August 17-19, 2012, in Montgomery, Alabama. Sheila and I had the privilege of meeting Jody Mulder, Marketing Manager of Buckmaster, and his wife, Paige, along with Jordan Broderick, at the World Fishing and Outdoor Expo in New York in March. Jody graciously invited us to their Expo and it was a great show to see!
 
We got to meet Jackie Bushman, CEO of Buckmaster and well-known outdoorsman, Michael Waddell, Travis Turner and Nick Mundt of “The Bone Collectors”, plus Troy Landry with his sons Jacob and Chase from the TV Show “The Swamp People”! There was a 3 hour wait in line to meet them; they have quite a following!

Sheila was able to get her picture taken with Troy in the hotel lobby, and she’s even sporting her Jayhawk shirt in Alabama territory! 

The show vendors included products related to hunting, fishing, and camping, like Buck Knives, Thermacell, Barnett Crossbows, RealTree, Pennington, Nikon, etc. 

The Dock Dogs were there in competition, very fun to watch!

The Top Bow Indoor World Championship was also held during the show. 

And I even found a tractor at this show!!

Montgomery is rich with history and if you come to the Expo and have time, you can visit places close by, like the Hank Williams gravesite, the first White House of the Confederacy (pictured below), the church where Martin Luther King was a pastor and some great BBQ! Yes, I must have been a travel agent in my previous life!

Check it out next year and get yourself a new bow, knife, tree stand paraphernalia, a wildlife cam, turkey caller or camping equipment! See their link at www.buckmasters.com. See you down the road! 

Quite a place to have a show! I had never been to this one so, accompanied by Farm Collector Editor, Leslie McManus, I got to experience the sights and sounds created by Steve and Sylvia Bauer at the Little Log House Pioneer Village Antique Power Show in Hastings, Minnesota, July 27-29, 2012. The Bauer family has created a restored pioneer village to display some of southern Minnesota’s most prized artifacts, and it is a perfect setting for an antique tractor and engine show.

Here is what you are greeted by at the gate; does he stay up there all day!?

There is quite a hodgepodge of vintage iron across the grounds.

Walking through the displays, you can’t help but feel like you really did walk through a time warp. The 1950s Drive-In diner called Porky’s, surrounded by classic cars is one sight that pushes you though that time door.  (By the way, the cheese curds and burgers were awesome)

Up the hill, you can check out a working quarry.

Then walk across the old spiral bridge, which is a replica of the Hastings Spiral Bridge that was torn down in 1951. 

If you go, you have to enjoy the beauty and serenity of “Sylvia’s Garden.” A nice floral addition to a tractor show!

And right beside that is the old flour mill and water wheel. Lots of photo ops there. 

There is a main street setup with many impressive specialty displays, like a telephone building, a dress shop, a saloon, an old jail, and the Land Office, which had many pieces of history, photos, and survey equipment that helped build this land.

There was also military encampment with several different eras portrayed by the reenactors. When we walked though the army Quonset hut, they were polishing their boots, cleaning their guns, drinking out of old fashioned Coke bottles, and eating their MRE’s. There were even pin-up girls on the walls! It really made you feel like you had stepped back into time, or at least into an old war movie! 

There was a 1912 Big Four “30” gas tractor there with the self-steering device that was an exclusive feature of this tractor. A giant on the prairie, for sure.

This show is held the last full weekend in July. Mark your calendars for July 26-28, 2013, to visit and enjoy some history along with old tractors and engines, good food, music, and stop to smell the flowers in the garden along the way!

See you down the road! 

I drive to most of the shows I attend, and this is one of the longer drives I make. More miles, and I usually jump on a plane.  First of all, when I go to a show, I like to be able to have room for items for all the weather choices, because, as you know, you can experience many different weather conditions even at one given show. But second, road trips are awesome! There is so much to see along the way, whether it’s a natural or historic landmark, a fun sightseeing place you’ve heard or read about, or just something you happen to see because you are at the right place at the right time.

I love the history part of it all. Driving on Highway 36 heading east through Missouri, for this show, for example, I discovered that the town of Marceline, MO was the boyhood home of Walt Disney. And, I drive through Hannibal, home of Mark Twain. On my treks on this route, these four black bear statues guarding someone’s place near Hannibal, always greet me, all decked out in whatever garb suits the time of year.

On different past trips, I’ve stopped to see the house in Eldon, Iowa, that Grant Wood painted in the American Gothic painting, John Wayne’s birthplace home in Winterset, Iowa, as well as the covered bridges of Madison County, in Iowa. I’ve had my picture taken in front of a giant Santa in Santa Claus, Indiana, eaten supper at a castle in Geneva, New York, after oohing and ahing over Niagara Falls, sat in a giant rocking chair in the Amana Colonies in Iowa and stood beside the world’s largest baseball bat in Louisville, Kentucky.  As they say, there’s a lot to see in your own back yard! I don’t really know who “they” are, but they say it

This trip was for the Eastern Ohio Two-Cylinder Expo in Springfield, Ohio. And I didn’t need my raincoat or boots for this one. “Hot and dry” was the phrase of the week, just like most of the country these days. This year’s features were standard tractors, Model H, 8020 Reunion and 110 Lawn & Garden tractors.

I visited with existing and new advertisers and collectors. I saw some nice John Deere tractors on display. This is a Model 101 EX, owned by Ron & Barb Koogler.

 Here is a nice wagon at Pete’s Woody Trucks booth.

Check out this small-scale Deere combine! This guy has some amazing ability!

The highlight of the show for me was when I actually got to drive this 1959 John Deere 8020, owned and restored by John Craig of Mentone, Indiana. (Brave man, letting me get behind the wheel!)

The homemade ice cream made in a freezer powered by a John Deere gas engine is always a big hit although you had to really step up your game to eat  it fast before it melted!

This show is held every other year in conjunction with the New York State Two Cylinder Expo in Canandaigua, which is held on the opposite years of the Ohio show. The 2013 show will be held in Canandaigua, New York, July 10-13.

See you down the road!

I headed up to Minnesota for the Le Sueur County Pioneer Power 35th Swap Meet and set aside a little time to stop in and visit a few advertisers in the area. I saw Mike Tesch at Gas Tank Renu in Shakopee (800-633-TANK), Linda at Fahey Auctions in Hutchinson (www.faheysales.com), Jim at Distel Grain in Le Sueur (www.distelgrain.com), and Steve at Quayside Publishing in Minneapolis (www.quaysidepub.com). It is always nice to visit the new and existing clients, whether on the way to or at the shows and swap meets and sort of touch base, and get to know them and their business.

At this swap meet, the vendors line up and wait in line for days to grab their favorite spot on the grounds. When they open the gates and start letting in the stream of trucks, trailers, buses, RV’s, semis, anything and everything, it is seriously something to behold.

Every time I see it, I always hear someone comment on how it must be what the Oklahoma Land Rush looked like, only with a different kind of horsepower! I heard the first vehicle was in line on April 1, and the swap meet started on April 27!

There were nearly 1,000 vendors and about 12,000 people in attendance. The weather is always the big topic of conversation at the swap meet, and we got by with no snow, mud or rain (except some light rain Saturday morning) but it was pretty windy and chilly! When it’s cold, I sometimes have to go on the hunt to find the vendors taking a quick warm up break in their truck instead of standing by their trailers, and who can blame them?

Having donned a Carhart coat, gloves and long underwear, I’m ready to go searching! 

Here’s a photo of Mark Schraut of Mark’s Carburetor assisting customers and answering questions at his booth.  

It seems to me everyone goes to the swap meet no matter the weather, because it’s the first big swap meet after the long winter, and everyone’s ready to see what kind of old iron was dug up, what finds there are to discover and how their friends are doing.

For more info on the Swap Meet (next one is April 26-28, 2013) and also their summer show (August 24-26, 2012), visit www.pioneerpowershow.com.

I hope to see you at a show in 2012. The clubs and volunteers work hard and are so passionate about each of their shows. Any one of them would be a good choice for a fun and interesting time. Support the clubs and the vendors, they help keep this hobby chugging along! 

See you down the road!