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Old Timers Show brings out farming antiques
Published: August 17, 2009
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Mary Card of Millerton holds a hand-made miniature cow that was part of a display.
EAST SMITHFIELD - Larry Weed of Sugar Run recalls attending the first Bradford County Old Timers Show as a boy in 1963.
He said that he and his brother probably picked up glass soda bottles, which had 2-cent or 5-cent deposits, from the side of local roads in order to pay the $1 admission to the show.
On Sunday, Weed was back at the 46th Annual Bradford County Old Timers Show in East Smithfield, this time demonstrating several portable hit-and-miss engines, which he said were used on farms before electricity became available. The engines, which ran on fuels such as kerosene or gasoline, could be attached by a flat belt and pulley system to various machines on a farm to saw wood, grind feed, chop up corn, and perform other chores, he said.
"A farmer could be self-sufficient" with one of the engines, he said.
"We love this stuff," he continued.
"You don't own these engines," he said with reverence. "You're just a caretaker."
The engines "will last longer than people" and will one day fall into the hands of another collector, he said.
On the grounds of the East Smithfield V.F.W. hall, where the show was held, were displays of antique tractors, machinery, and tools.
Dale Palmer, 61, of Alba, who said he has had the same 1936 Dodge since he was 16 years old, drove the car in a parade of antique and classic cars at the event.
He said he has kept the car in good running shape.
"My wife just drove it back home to Alba," he said after the parade.
Palmer also brought his entire collection of 1,400 hammers, some of which date back to the 1800s, to the show.
One specialized hammer in his collection was used to tap in sand around the edges of bricks when streets were paved with bricks in the 1800s. Another hammer in the collection had the initials of a farmer in raised letters on the head of the hammer, and the farmer would slam the hammer onto a log, thus "branding" it before sending it downriver to a sawmill so that the mill workers would know who owned the log, he said.
Approximately 800 people attended the show, which began Friday, said Jason Chandler, president of the Old Timers Association.
The event also included an antique tractor parades, live music, antique tractor pulls, kiddie pedal pulls, a Chinese auction, a flea market, and a sale of chicken barbecue and other food.
William Campbell of Litchfield, who attended the event, said he has a collection of 30 tractors on his farm, most of which are antiques and all but a couple of which are all fixed up.
He said he enjoys restoring them.
Before 1934, tractors had steel wheels, he said. In 1934, tractors fitted with rubber tires, which were called pneumatic tires, began to be sold, he said.
But farmers were wary of buying tractors with rubber tires, because at the time they easily developed flats and the farmers had no way of fixing the flats, said Mike Kempfer of Gillett, who was displaying an antique tractor at the show.
Today, Amish farmers still use tractors with steel wheels, Kempfer said. They will buy tractors with rubber tires, and replace the tires with steel wheels they make, Kempfer said.
James Loewenstein can be reached at (570) 265-1633; or e-mail: jloewenstein@thedailyreview.com.
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