By CINDY LADAGE
Illinois Correspondent RANTOUL, Ill. — Want to see farming like it was 50 years ago? That is what the Half Century of Progress is all about.
This unique event begins tomorrow at the Rantoul National Aviation Center and runs through Sunday. This is the third time the biennial event has taken place and this year, 1957 is the year to be profiled.
The show grounds at the former Chanute Air Force Base feature more than 300 acres of cropland for field demonstrations. Live demos of both tractors and horses will be ongoing. Antique equipment enthusiasts are encouraged to bring their tractors, equipment, horses or just a lawn chair and be a part of history.
For those wanting to participate in a tractor ride, one is scheduled for Aug. 23 with farm broadcaster Max Armstrong. At the last Half Century of Progress, a world bottom plow record was set. This year, 48 draft horses will be hooked together pulling modern farm equipment, along with 24-, 36- and 48-horse hitches.
For those that have been to this event, while there will be the same working farm effort as in the past, a new aspect has been added. There will be vintage construction equipment on-site as well, to include a crane, a team of crawler tractors, graders and other equipment. Each day, visitors can watch the variety of equipment drive by in the daily show.
Show manager Dave Gentry said, “We promise that you will find the people are friendly and the sights are most memorable. Unlike anything featured at other antique farm equipment shows, where the machines of crop production are in the spotlight, the working construction equipment shows here at Rantoul will illustrate each day how these machines were as vital as farm tractors to the families on our farms 50 years ago.”
How was this construction equipment used? The crawler-type track tractors, made by International Harvester and Caterpillar, changed the view of farmland. These machines were used to clear land to build what Gentry refers to as “vital farm-to-market roads.”
IH and CAT were not the only brands that had an impact on the farm construction scene. Allis-Chalmers will have an AC grader on display that was once used on the gravel roads of what is now a thriving Chicago suburb.
Gentry said, “We will illustrate how those roads were maintained, keeping the roadway viable for the residents out in the country.”
Another equipment company to be profiled is the Bucyrus-Erie brand. It built steam shovels, draglines and cranes.
“In addition to their road-building utility, these machines were vital for sculpting the ditches and keeping them dredged for important farm drainage. A Bucyrus crane will be at work each day of the Half Century Of Progress,” Gentry added.
“Thousands of farm ponds and crucial conservation features on our farms were built a few decades ago by this construction equipment. We should not forget these machines, their designers and their operators for the role they played in our nation’s history.”
Show planners are ready even in the event of rain. Gentry said, “Unlike some outdoor farm show sites over the years that turned out to be a sea of mud, the location that once was the old Chanute Air Force Base is ready to handle any rain that may come.”
While dry weather may make farmers wonder about discussions of rain-laden fields, some may remember the Farm Progress Show a couple of years ago, when several inches of rain fell, bringing the mega event to a screeching halt. Should rain fall at this site, there is an extensive underground stormwater drainage system.
While Gentry warned, “Rain showers could make the demonstration fields and the crops in them soggy, the storm sewers here … combined with the extensive taxiways and aprons that were once used by the U.S. Air Force, would provide a solid surface where vintage farm equipment could be displayed.”
Besides the grounds themselves, also available to the Half Century Of Progress is the massive “Hangar Two” at the old airbase, which has an expansive 250-foot-wide opening when the doors are parted. This facility can be prepared for indoor farm equipment demonstrations, stage shows and displays, should the rains persist.
“We’re counting on sunshine,” said Gentry. “But if the rains come, we’ll be ready, and the show will go on. You will get your money’s worth at this show, rain or shine.”
The Half Century Of Progress is one of the largest antique farm equipment demonstration shows in America and visitors are expected from across the country.
Go online to www.halfcenturyofprogress.org for details.
This farm news was published in the Aug. 22, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. |
