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Sunny along with a few clouds. High 78F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph..
Thunderstorms. Potential for severe thunderstorms. Low near 70F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 100%.
RILEY KELLEY | Daily News Photos
Western Michigan Old Engine Club members Tom Alway pulls along Fred Silva, who operates a 1902s McCormick Deering wheat binder Friday in Custer. The members are readying for the upcoming Old Engine & Tractor Show, which starts Thursday, Aug. 4.
Fred Silva and Dave Hasenbank inspect a 1920s McCormick Deering wheat binder Friday in Custer.
Members of the Western Michigan Old Engine Club gather wheat for the upcoming Old Engine & Tractor Show, which starts Thursday, Aug. 4.
The Western Michigan Old Engine Club gathers wheat for the upcoming Old Engine & Tractor Show, which starts Thursday, Aug. 4.
Paul Storm tosses some wheat onto a tractor driven by Fred Silva on Friday.
RILEY KELLEY | Daily News Photos
Western Michigan Old Engine Club members Tom Alway pulls along Fred Silva, who operates a 1902s McCormick Deering wheat binder Friday in Custer. The members are readying for the upcoming Old Engine & Tractor Show, which starts Thursday, Aug. 4.
Fred Silva and Dave Hasenbank inspect a 1920s McCormick Deering wheat binder Friday in Custer.
Members of the Western Michigan Old Engine Club gather wheat for the upcoming Old Engine & Tractor Show, which starts Thursday, Aug. 4.
The Western Michigan Old Engine Club gathers wheat for the upcoming Old Engine & Tractor Show, which starts Thursday, Aug. 4.
Paul Storm tosses some wheat onto a tractor driven by Fred Silva on Friday.
CUSTER TWP. — The smell of soil and wheat, the weight of 82-degree air, the chugging and roaring of a century-old machine: it’s all old hat to the members of the Western Michigan Old Engine Club.
But on Friday, members gathered at Robert Thurow’s wheat field on Wilson Road south of Darr Road and revved up a 1920s McCormick Deering grain binder to collect wheat for the upcoming 48th annual Old Engine & Tractor Show, which kicks off Aug. 4 at the Western Michigan Old Engine Club grounds near Riverside Park in Scottville.
“We’re cutting and binding the grain so we can thrash it and take it to the show,” said Richard Alway, a longtime club member. “(At the show) we put it through a thrash machine, which separates the grain from the straw.”
In addition to the show, the wheat collected on Friday will also be used for the club’s education day in the fall.
Alway, whose son, Tom was also there, guiding the McCormick on a modern John Deere tractor, said the binding of the wheat prior to the Old Engine & Tractor Show is a tradition in and of itself.
The club gathered about two wagon loads of wheat over the roughly 1.5-acre space. The wheat will be transported to the club grounds in preparation for next week.
As for the show itself, Paul Storm, president of the Old Engine Club, said it should be a good one.
“We had a real good show last year and we’re looking for another good one this year,” Storm said. “We had a really good turnout.”
Storm said the show will run Thursday, Aug. 4 through Sunday, Aug. 7, featuring various activities for attendees of all ages — from tractor pulls, horse pulls and demonstrations of antique equipment, to games and kids activities.
“Friday we’ll have an antique pull during the day, we have parades at 1 o’clock every day, Saturday we’ll have a garden tractor pull, and Saturday night we’ll finish up with the progressive sled antiques,” Storm said.
“And we’ll have a stone-bolt pull too. That’s a dead-weight pull where you just put weight on the sled and see how much you can pull.”
Storm said 250- to 1,000-pound cement weights are used.
“If you pull 11 feet, we put 500 or 750 pounds and pull again,” he said.
The horse pull, which starts at 5 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 5, is making its third appearance and Storm said “everyone really likes that one.”
Storm said kids day, which is Saturday, Aug. 6, will feature a raffle for a pedal tractor, “along with many, many games of pedal-pull and everything you can think of for kids and for the family.”
The day will also include a scavenger hunt, birdhouse building activities, valve cover races and more.
Storm said he’s excited about having people come out to visit the grounds, now that “things have started up again” after more than two years of the pandemic taking its toll on events.
The show draws “anywhere from 600 to 1,000 people” on its busiest day — which is traditionally Saturday. He added that about 2,000 to 3,000 people make their way to the club grounds, all told.
Storm said the Love tractor will be featured this year — a tractor designed for orchards, which can reach a top speed of 50 to 60 mph. The Love tractor dates back to the 1950s, he said, and is a regular feature of the Old Engine & Tractor Show, though he’s not sure many people are aware of just what it can do.
The 48th annual Western Michigan Old Engine & Tractor Show is from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day.
For more information, visit www.oldengineclub.org/old-engine-and-tractor-show.
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