HUTCHINSON, Kan. – Michael Hinton, creator of TalkingTractors.com and founder of Antique Tractor Preservation Day, has an incredible passion and drive for vintage tractors, and it shows in his amazing success.

“I’ve been diligently working to create awareness of Antique Tractor Preservation for well-over 17 years,” Hinton said. “It combines my passion for old tractors, my deep-rooted love for Kansas, which is truly an extended family, our state’s proud agricultural heritage, and my heartfelt appreciation for our country and rural America.

Before establishing Antique Tractor Preservation Day, Hinton took an agricultural path, collecting IH tractors and shelves full of Ertl farm toys, appreciating farming, and learning along the way. His story begins in Newton, Kan., where he was born and raised. His parents had a rural home and hobby farm between Newton and Walton just off highway 50. “Our house was in the middle of four wheat fields. During the summertime and growing up, I saw farming and tractors every day.” That is how his interest in farming began. While he grew up in a small town, from grade school on, he was a country kid. “My now deceased grandfather, John Sadowsky, was a crop farmer that lived in rural Harvey County, Kan., and raised dairy cows. The farming history was on my mom’s side of the family.”

Following his early upbringing in agriculture, Hinton said, “Thirty-five years ago I married my wife, Tonya. Her dad, Lawrence Jury, of Peabody, Kan., has amassed during our lifetime, a collection of eighteen or so Farmall tractors. I took an interest in them and still do today.”

The Hinton family, Michael, his wife Tonya, and daughter Melissa, have lived all throughout the Midwest. “My wife and I married in 1989 we have lived in Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Arkansas, Missouri and Minnesota – all career-related moves.

“Now we are blessed to be back home,” he explained, “We bounced around the Midwest, but we knew where our hearts belonged. In the state of Missouri, we had a wonderful country home in West Plains, which sat at the top of a hill, with a winding drive, and a yard full of trees near the Mark Twain National Forest.”

It was at this house that Hinton acquired his first antique tractor. “My neighbor or someone asked what we were going to mow our property with.” The neighbor explained with the many rocks that were more prominent than grass, they needed something heavy duty, so Hinton purchased a 1949 Farmall Cub tractor with a belly mount mower and a front mounted snow blade. While this started out as a work tractor, that soon changed. “The tractor mowed maybe one time, and I played a bit in the winter with the snow blade. After that we restored it and painted it.” He added, “It was beautiful. I didn’t want to get it dirty or messed up.”

In Missouri, the Hintons felt the pull to expand their Farmall pack. “With Tonya’s dad back in Kansas we thought he would like this.” Well, one Farmall led to another with the Hintons adding a Farmall H with a bucket loader. “I liked the size and power, then came one more, a Farmall 340 that had a bit more power. The H was a 1942, the Cub a 1949, and the 340 was from the 1960s.” The tractors took precedence. “The cars came out of the garage and tractors went in because we didn’t have a barn.”

Next, Michael needed parts for his Farmall’s, and he added, “In West Plains there wasn’t a lot of IH dealerships in town, so I had to go to Springfield, Mo., or purchase online.” This got old so Hinton thought, “There has to be a better way, so I put together my first website, TheAntiqueTractorShow.com, as a resource center, then I started taking pictures and joined the Cabool, Mo., Antique Tractor Club, which is the Ozarks Older Iron Tractor Club.”

At the time he joined, he was working for a longarm quilting machine company, and he got involved with the Ozarks Tourism Board. The president of the board expressed to him that the city would like to do an antique tractor show; so, the Ozarks Older Iron Club got involved. To make this a big event, Hinton said, “I wrote the governor because I was on tourism board and wanted to encourage others in the state to come to West Plains.”

His letter succeeded. “Jeremiah Wilson ‘Jay’ Nixon was the governor then and now is a partner with an attorney office in St. Louis, Mo. We still stay in touch. He gave us a proclamation for Antique Preservation Day for that first-year event. The proclamation was for a day in the middle of the week, but that day led to one, two, and three years of consecutive shows. The governor gave us a proclamation each year, and we moved the show downtown.”

That move expanded the interest, with the courthouse downtown where local merchants were excited about having a show that would bring people to the historic town square. Reaching out to Orion Samuelson in the second year, Michael shared that they were putting on a tractor show and hoping for some publicity. “On the morning of tractor show a gentleman came up and said Orion Samuelson had just announced the tractor show on air. I had the recording for the longest time, but recently the link expired. Orion made a mention of the tractor show and said, ‘If you have an opportunity, go to West Plains, Mo., to see the show.’”

Life and career caught up with Hinton, and his tractors got put on the back burner when he and Tonya moved from Missouri to Minnesota, despite taking the three tractors with them. Then, with more moves, they had to sell the tractors until they eventually were able to get back home to Kansas. “Five years ago, we moved home, and I joined an Agribusiness software development company, serving as director of sales and marketing.”

After returning home, the desire returned to being involved with tractors again. “I got back home and never lost my passion for tractors, so I created www.TalkingTractors.com.” In less than a year’s time, the site has grown to over 21 pages with the help of his webmaster daughter. “While I started Antique Tractor Preservation Day in Missouri, it’s relevant that its inspiration and roots began in Kansas and is its official home.”

Hinton’s plans include continued participation in and support from the Great Plans Antique Tractor Club, who are members of EDGETA, which stands for National Early Day Gas Engine and Tractor Association. EDGETA has chapter branches that blanket the U.S. Hinton said the point is to bring awareness to antique tractors and rural America’s agriculture heritage.

Hinton said Antique Tractor Preservation Day has become an honorary Kansas House legislature resolution. “It is now an annual event. It is still on the governor’s books to do a proclamation, but it is now firmly a Kansas Day, and that makes my heart feel good.”

Preservation Day is Aug. 22, 2025, in Hutchinson, Kan., and in additional communities in partnership.