Time to Hit the Road!

It’s show season! That season you yearned for, while slogging through the depths of winter, is well and truly upon us. It’s sunny, it’s hot, there’s no wind chill and no snow to shovel. In other words, it’s time to hit the road.

Here at Farm Collector, we’re hitting the road so much that it’s hard not to feel like a raccoon. Last week, ad rep Terri Keitel and I went all the way down to Lubbock, Texas, for the International Windmiller’s Trade Fair. This week I’m heading the opposite direction, to the Hay Tool Collectors Assn. annual swap meet and show, in Viroqua, Wisconsin.

In August, my husband, Jeff, and I will lead a group of more than 40 on the Farm Collector tour of England, Wales and Ireland, winding up at the Great Dorset Steam Fair for a day and a half. Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, the event will showcase a record-breaking display of 500 full-size steam engines. Covering more than 600 acres, the Dorset show is one of Europe’s largest outdoor events with annual attendance of about 200,000.

Well aware that good things come in small packages too, the group will also take in a couple of shows on a much smaller scale, and I’m sure that everyone is excited by the possibility of getting acquainted with like-minded folks in Wales and Ireland.

Members of the Farm Collector team will wind up the show season with a visit to the Midwest Old Threshers Reunion in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, where we’ve long enjoyed the opportunity to visit with old friends and new during the Labor Day weekend. If you’re there, swing by the tent and have a chat with editor-in-chief Richard Backus and ad rep Terri Keitel.