BERNARDSTON — Pratt Field, the new site of the Gas Engine Show, is about an acre bigger than the 12-acre field on Route 10 where the show was held annually the first 41 times, “and it’ll be packed,” said Bob Allen, who helps organize it with the United Church of Bernardston.
The 42nd annual Gas Engine Show runs Friday through Sunday. South Street will be one-way coming from Route 5 to make the traffic manageable. The show draws 6 to 8 thousand spectators each year, Allen said. Breakfast will be served from 6 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday. The ham and bean supper will be Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m.
On Sunday there will be an 8 a.m. worship service under the big top tent, then the tractor parade at 11, the engine awards at 1 p.m. and the raffle drawing at 2.
Other than the new location, the show will be largely the same, Allen said. The part of the field from the entrance at the top of South Street to the woods in the back will be for the gas engines, and the area along the soccer field will be the flea market. Vendors will include craftspeople, jewelers, the flower guy, the honey lady and Country Critters from Colrain.
“Anything from tools, furniture, designer bags,” Allen said, “just about anything you want.”
The Gas Engine Show is a fundraiser for the United Church of Bernardston. It has run every year since 1976, when church members Erwin “Bud” Streeter and Russell Deane proposed it.
“The Gas Engine Show really benefits everybody in town,” said David Neil, the church’s pastor. “It started off as a fundraiser, but it’s become a lot more than that. It’s become a community event, and we want to keep it going.”
Streeter died at 89 on May 14, but his jitney will be on display along with his “do-nothings,” machines shaped like little lawn mowers but aren’t functional.