Maine Antique Power Assn. State Fair Demonstrations

Maine Antique Power Assn. members gain clearer understanding of the future by celebrating state’s mechanical past

By Leslie C. McManus
Updated on March 9, 2022
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by Hope Lambert
Group wood processing at the Cumberland Fair. At front is an Ottawa drag saw. Behind that, a 10hp 1921 Stover running a cordwood saw. At back: a two-headed Hildreth wood splitter run by a 4-1/2hp Sandwich engine. MAPA members shown left to right: Gary Willison, Russ Welch, Dave Hyde and Doug Kimball.

Operating out of two permanent facilities two hours apart, the 200-member Maine Antique Power Assn. (MAPA) does things a little differently, but their goal is one shared by all old iron groups. “We are very dedicated to preservation,” says Gary Willison, MAPA vice president. “We don’t want to see these machines end up in junk yards or salvage yards.”

In lieu of showgrounds, the group (which was founded in 1973) holds displays each year at the Cumberland County Fair and the Skowhegan State Fair. MAPA has a building – a clubhouse, if you will – at each location. The group is contractually obligated to have each building open for the duration of the seven-day Cumberland event and the 10-day Skowhegan fair.

The buildings are manned from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. “We’ll have four to six people giving demonstrations every day,” Gary says. “Kids can shell and grind corn, and we’ll have the dog treadmill going with a man grinding an axe and a fodder cutting demonstration. That helps them understand the progression of power.”

Keeping the state’s heritage alive

Educating others – especially kids – is a key focus as the group seeks to preserve America’s mechanical past in order to better understand the future. “We get a lot of school groups,” Gary says. At Cumberland, they load up a two-horse treadmill with 10 kids at a time for what must be a nearly limitless source of energy.

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