NORTHWESTERN MICHIGAN SHOW

flea market, plowing area, etc., most every inch is used. Actually,
most folks call ours the ‘Buckley Show.’ That’s because
it is held at Buckley, a little crossroads village a few miles
south of Traverse City on M 37.

Not only have we grown, but changed. I have said before that in
our beginning there were mostly old engines and tractors that were
mostly looked at by mostly older men. Things are changed now. Whole
families come. So, we have sort of ‘swung with the punch.’
We fill both floors of the club house with arts and crafts. We
sponsor a monstrous flea market. Mrs. Martin spins wool all day.
Mrs. Komornik paints pictures all day, and they both talk and teach
and answer questions. We have that agreement with arts and crafts
folks that they do their thing right there. They are encouraged to
sell their works.

Another big plus we have: a lot of the younger folks are showing
interest and effort and doing a terrific job. Nothing does my heart
better than to see some older fellow stop by some teenager who
needs a bit of help with a hunk of old iron.

Folks like a working show, I think. There are all sorts of
museums where a person may parade by a row of silent stuffengines
etc. These are fine and certainly they serve a purpose. But they
don’t compare with John Sandulas’ Advance Rumely steamer
being really worked at the sawmill where Sam Zue is
‘pushing’ a bit. And our sawmill runs and runs. Lots of
logs and they just keep it going. They change power often and that
is part of the show.

This year we put up a windmill and drove a well beneath it.
Right near there is another well being pumped with a gas engine.
That’s where the public, horses, and oxen can get a good,
fresh, cool drink of water.

Couple of the club members went ‘west’ and brought home
an 8-bottom prairie plow for our big tractors. At least a couple
times a day the bigger steam or gas tractors get a crack at it.
Seems to me that the Nichols and Shepard gas tractor does about as
well as any. But the ‘steam folks’ say no. It’s
successful entertainment anyway. And so is the horse plowing on the
other side of the field with a pair of Wayne Osburnes’
horses.

We still get pressured a bit at dinner time when several
thousand folks want to eat at the same time. Ken Hittle and help
run a real fine chicken barbecue on one side of the pavillion while
Keith Galvin and crew are doing beef on the other side. There are,
of course, a number of church and club operated eateries spread out
over the grounds to help out.

Threshing power by Case, built and operated by Stan Miner.
Opening page: Line-up of steamers. Note the ‘new’ windmill
in the background.

We realize that a most important link in the success of the show
is the group of contributors who aren’t members. They labor
year after year and spend countless dollars to perfect ‘old
stuff and thenand this is most importanttake time and effort to
bring it to the show and display and run it. These folks make the
show what it is. So, we do whatever we can to provide them with
certain conveniences, and most of all, an audience. For what is
such a product as a restored engine without an audience?

If we have a problem it is probably having enough workers. We
just need more operators. Engines running have to be watched. A
rope machine has to be run by someone. The shingle or shake
splitter has to be used. The spinning wheel has to spin. Those
operators need to answer questions and explain things. There is a
darn good readon why the yarn that Mrs. Martin spins is better than
the yarn that I spin. Mine is full of knots and bumps and fat and
skinny places. She can tell a person why. And another item: sixty
acres is quite a long ways for some folks to get aroundespecially
if they are a bit older-and most of us tend to get older. So we put
forth effort to provide some grounds transportation. Dick Harrison,
a local farm machinery dealer, always has had a number of tractors
in some spot with a sign. This year I convinced him to get some
wagons with seats, put his company name on the side, and expose a
few tractors. It worked! Dick is happy and so were the many riders.
Al Hayhoe was there with his oxen and big old two-wheeled wagon
giving mostly kid rides all day.

Many, many things go on each day. I won’t attempt to name
them all. So Mr. Engineman and family, we would be happy to have
you visit us this summerthird weekend in August. See you there.