It was once a rite of early spring across North Texas. Just as a new year's oak leaves unfurled, the sound of tractor motors could be heard groaning from the strain of plows cutting through fertile blackland prairie soil. Listen closely and you could hear the faint echo of blacksmith's hammers forging new tools and repairing equipment.
On Sunday, those days came back as North Texas History Center and Collin County Farm Museum sponsored the Lone Star Vintage Tractor Show. This was a special event for families that seemed to enjoy the hayrides between events almost as much as the events themselves.
On the west side of Myers Park, tractors lined the horizon. But this event highlighted all the changes mechanization allowed across rural America, from the first water pumps to some of the early tractors, cars and trucks. A remarkable 1905 hay press brought in from Jim Esbenshade Farms in Achille, Oklahoma symbolized just how drastically advances in technology changed life on the farm.
It required a minimum of a six-man crew to operate the hay press back in the early 1900s, while today it is a common sight to see a lone farmer or rancher putting away hay for the coming winter in a fraction of the time it took a half-dozen men a century ago.
Lone Star Vintage Tractor Show really was a regional celebration of the machines and people that transformed prairies into productive fields that could provide food for families and livestock. The Best of Show winner in the inaugural Lone Star Vintage Tractor Show was Lenese Marek from Benbrook, Texas in Tarrant County. Ms. Marek's entry was a 1944 VAC Case tractor that was built during Word War II.
There was time for a little levity, as well, when Warren Rhodes of Allen, Texas cheerfully accepted the trophy for the Ugliest Tractor in the Show.
Wylie Antique Machinery Society brought a chuck wagon and an interesting display of plows. Red River Valley Antique Tractor Club from Lamar County set up a miniature hay-baling operation and the International Harvester Collectors--Texas Chapter 25 had several items for the crowd to look over.
The Collin County Farm Museum is managed by North Texas History Center on behalf of Collin County Commissioners Court.
North Texas History Center is located at 300 E. Virginia just east of the square in downtown McKinney and the Center is open from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday thru Saturday.
For additional information contact North Texas History Center at 972.542.9457 or visit
www.northtexashistorycenter.org.Upcoming Farm Shows: Paris, Texas Convention Center May 23
Golden Harvest Day, June 27 from 9:00 a.m. -3:00 p.m. at Jim Esbenshade Farms in Achille, Oklahoma
