By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
CUSTER TOWNSHIP — Volunteers spent Monday cutting and shocking grain that will be used during next month’s Western Michigan Old Engine & Tractor Show, continuing a tradition that helps bring historic farming practices to life for thousands of visitors each summer.
The grain harvested Monday will be used during live threshing demonstrations at the 52nd annual Western Michigan Old Engine & Tractor Show, scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 6 through Saturday, Aug. 8, at the Western Michigan Old Engine Club’s showgrounds in Scottville Riverside Park.
The annual show celebrates the machinery and methods that shaped rural Michigan before the age of modern agriculture. Throughout the three-day event, visitors can watch antique tractors power threshing machines as freshly cut grain is separated using equipment similar to that used by area farmers more than a century ago.
In addition to the threshing demonstrations, the show will feature antique tractors, trucks, lawn and garden tractors, stationary and hit-and-miss engines, blacksmithing, corn shelling and grinding, sawmill and shingle mill demonstrations, daily tractor parades, a flea market and swap meet, and other exhibits. A dead-boat antique tractor pull is scheduled for Thursday evening, Aug. 6, followed by a horse pull on Friday evening, Aug. 7. Saturday, Aug. 8, will feature Kids Day activities.
A horse pull will take place Friday evening beginning at 6 p.m. and the Scottville Clown Band will perform Saturday at 7 p.m.
The Western Michigan Old Engine Club was organized in 1974 to preserve and demonstrate antique agricultural equipment. After meeting at several locations, including Historic White Pine Village, the club established its permanent home at Scottville Riverside Park in 1990, where the annual show has been held ever since.
Admission is $7 for adults and $5 for veterans and seniors age 65 and older on Thursday. Children age 12 and younger are admitted free. Additional information is available at westernmicholdengineclub.org.
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