RANTOUL, Ill. — One of the highlights of the Half Century of Progress Show Aug. 25-28 at the Rantoul airport and former Chanute Air Force Base (see related column on page 6B) was the collection of manure spreaders.

During their show that Saturday afternoon, famed agricultural broadcasters Orion Samuelson and Max Armstrong made several jokes about stepping deep in the manure and celebrating the mechanics of this useful machine – but everyone agreed that cleaned up, these implements were show stoppers.

The manure spreaders came in all shapes and sizes. One manure spreader was spreading a message about a cause; the little pink #4 spreader donated by Pequea Machine, Inc. was made by New Holland. Raffle tickets were being sold at the show to win the little “Tough Enough To Wear Pink” spreader.

It was built in honor of the Stefanie Spielman Fund for breast cancer research. “This money will go to fund patient assistance,” said volunteer Kay Tracy.

Other, more traditional, manure spreaders were also on-site. One was made by the Success Co. in 1908. Owned by Chad ver Poeg of Sulley, Iowa, the wooden spreader was equipped with a wooden apron.

The Success Co. was purchased by John Deere in 1910.

The manure spreaders were just a few implements that were part of the historic Half Century of Progress.