Pioneer Rushville Show

There was stone crushing by Bill Stahl, president, and Denis
Schrank, director. The stone was later put on our parade route and
rolled down with the Rumely Oil Pull roller, owned by Jack Maple.
Jack also had an International corn sheller which was operated each
day.

Threshing was done two to three times each day with the wheat
provided by Lawrence Porter and Marion Liggett. This always draws a
large audience. The threshing was done part of the time with a
handfed separator belted to a Burdsall portable engine built in
1892.

The engines and tractors were moving and working all the time
providing the show with plenty of action. One of our engines was
very special this year in that it is the only one of its kind: a
portable Burdsall engine, built in 1892. It was bought last year
from the Yesteryear Museum in Dundee, Florida, by A. H. Stanley,
Clayton, Indiana, and he had it completely restored before bringing
it to our show.

There was also a demonstration each day with the Advance Rumely
fodder shredder.

The Indiana University Calliope arrived on Saturday and provided
music for the day in competition with the Kitch’s Calliope from
Miamisburg, Ohio. This calliope is sponsored by the Hook’s Drug
Company and is a beautiful piece of machinery. It is a show in
itself to watch them unwrap it and get it steamed up and ready for
action. Both of these calliopes are powered by steam and sometimes
they played together. This certainly added atmosphere to our
show.

There was a good crowd all three days. Music was provided on
Friday evening for the teenagers with disco lights, recorded music,
disc jockey  comments, and dancing. A fiddler’s contest
was held on Saturday night for the older generation. There were
twelve contestants and this contest was won by a nineteen-year-old
girl, Karen Johnson, of Greensburg, Indiana. The Spark Show
scheduled for Saturday night had to be cancelled because of a
storm.

We woke up to a beautiful day on Sunday and everything went
along as scheduled. We had an officers and directors meeting
immediately after the show that evening and feel we had a very
successful year and are looking forward to the same for next
year.

We were saddened the day following the show when we received
word that one of our most active members, Paul Alsip of Ogden,
Illinois, had passed away that morning. He will be missed by
several clubs in Indiana, Ohio, and Illinois of which he was an
active member. He took his engine to these shows, or helped with
someone else’s every year. He also served as one of the boiler
inspectors each year. We will miss his expertise in steam of which
he was always willing to share.