1515 Longfellow Waterloo, Iowa 50703
Our ’88 Show turned out to be one of the best shows we have
hosted. The weatherman was very good to us. He favored us with good
weather through the 4 days, only giving us a dust settling shower
early Saturday A.M. Our crowds were bigger and better every
day.
Our featured equipment this past year was Rumely and
Allis-ChalmeHrs, both very well represented. One of our founding
fathers owns all sizes of Oil Pulls made. This is Stewart Fenton
from Waterloo. My favorite of all his toys is the big 30-60. I
really enjoy hearing this ol’ girl bump-bump along. He keeps
them tuned like a fine Elgin watch. We really want to thank the
A.C. group for their fine display of the orange equipment. Mr. Vern
Schields from Waverly, IA displayed his old crane that made
Schields Bantams which is now Koehring crane. We used the crane to
swing logs for the sawmill. It really added to the show. Due to the
dry weather our oat crop left a little bit to be desired but we
were still able to thresh. The Fischell family and their 18 HP Wood
Bros, and Woods separator handled this chore, along with the Fowls
family and their 16 HP Reeves and separator.
Our plowing went over real well this year. We always let the big
Reeves break the furrow. It is owned by the Smolik brothers from
Osage, IA and operated by that well known man of steam, Randy
Schwerin, from Sumner, IA. The 110 HP Case put on a fine show on
the brake, as well as the 14-14 bottom plow also owned by the
Smolik brothers.
I will try to insert a little story about the 2 engineers on the
110 on Sunday afternoon: seems they had a little problem getting
off the plowing field and on to the parade route. Someone’s
F-30 got in their way and also they tried to plow some logs instead
of sawing them. No harm done and the crowd sure enjoyed it. After
all that’s what shows are all about anyway.
I would also like to thank John Schrock and Mr. and Mrs. Joe
Sommers for putting on some real fine entertainment on Saturday
night around the bonfire. Really enjoyed by all who attended. Our
antique tractor pull went over bigger and better this year. This
just seems to grow by leaps and bounds every year. Thanks to all
who help this thing keep getting better. The Rumelys owned by the
Smolik brothers and the Bellinger family from Waterloo powered the
sawmill this year. We also cooked various things in the smoke box
of the Bellinger Rumely. This year it was ham on Saturday along
with a big pot of beans and franks. On Sunday we cooked a turkey.
If you have not tried this, try it, as it makes for some delicious
eating. We just put a rack in the smoke box so what you’re
cooking is off the bottom about 3-4′ and then wrap it real good
with tin foil and just throw it in there and let it do its thing.
The crowd always enjoys this, but when you first take it out they
think you’re not really going to eat that; it really looks bad.
It comes out with the paper all black but when you get down to the
finished product, boy, do they change their minds! You ought to
hear all the oohing and aahing when they see how nice it looks
inside and how good it smells!
It seems as though Tony Bellinger likes to ride the family’s
Advance Rumely. Tony told his dad, Dean, he wanted to ride, so Dad
said to jump on. But look where he is riding–crazy kids!! People
attending the show were surprised!
Rich Stavely from around Traer puts on a fine demonstration
plowing and pulling bundle wagons with his Belgian horses. He gives
kids and adults rides as well. I can remember when I was a kid and
set straddled on these big giants. Boy! Do your legs hurt the next
day!
We operated our own kitchen this year. From the comments I heard
this really improved our show. Thanks to all who helped. Our flea
market was bigger this year, it seems to grow more and more. We put
on some free entertainment under our big top that is a real crowd
pleaser. We have an accordion player, along with doggers and we had
an 8-piece band from a nursing home. We also had a homemade pipe
organ powered by a vacuum cleaner! This is really a big shot to the
show. People enjoy coming in and sitting down relaxing listening to
this. Thanks to my wife, Jan for handling this detail.
Our gas engine display just keeps getting bigger, pretty soon
we’ll have to make more room for them. Our feature equipment
for our ’89 show will be Case. Our show dates for ’89 are
August 24, 25, 26 and 27. Make our show your show. We will roll out
the red carpet and make you feel right at home. Thanks to all who
make our show a smashing success.
