GREENFIELD — Why did people come out to look at a bunch of old tractors this past weekend? Well, they say it’s a mixture of nostalgia and fascination.
Saturday and Sunday was the second annual Retired Iron Tractor Show at the Franklin County Fairgrounds. Despite reports of impending bad weather, people from across the county and out of state showed up with antique tractors and cars for two days of tractor-based events, food, a crafting show and flea market and other agricultural-themed events.
Saturday kicked off with a kiddie tractor pull, in which children rode garden tractors to see how much weight they could drag, and a tractor parade around the fairgrounds.
According to organizer Mike Scranton, boys, girls, men and women all enjoyed the event — and got to see tractors as old as 1920s-built.
“It’s all about having fun,” Scranton said. “I love to see it, the kids having fun, coming out to a place like this, seeing and riding tractors.”
Scranton, who has nine garden tractors and another half-dozen farm tractors himself, said the allure is seeing the tractors from different eras, their differences and their similarities.
“It’s something about seeing old things that are still working, too,” Scranton said.
It’s also about friendly competition — there’s no prizes for any of the events, but, when it comes to tractor enthusiasts, there’s always “bragging rights,” Scranton said.
One hallmark of the show was the large tractor pull, during which tractors — some more than half a century old — were put to the test dragging a wooden slab carrying, at one point Saturday, 16,000 pounds of concrete blocks.
Few tractors could drag the full eight-ton load more than about a dozen yards, but some, including David Mansfield, of Athol, and his 1958 John Deere 530, found success.
Mansfield’s tractor, glistening in classic John Deere green, tilted back, wheelying as it struggled to pull the eight tons across a dirt path made muddy due to some rain. But, with engine whirring, he was able to pull the 16,000 pounds the full length of the spectators’ seating and then some.
And the pulls, Scranton said, are emblematic of how the Retired Iron Tractor Show got started. The organizers aren’t part of any official group or club, Scranton said, but are merely friends, who, a couple years ago, decided they wanted to get together and test their tractors, as well as invite like-minded people from all over to show off their antique machines in a “friendly exhibition.”
“We are not a club or anything,” Scranton said. “We are just a bunch of guys who have tractors and we like to pull. There are no prizes or anything like that. This is just fun for us.”
Scranton, 62, said he started to seriously indulge in tractors as a hobby in the early 2000s, but he has been in love with them since he was a young child and remembers driving tractors on his father’s Colrain farm as young as 4 years old.
“A lot of us grew up on farms,” Scranton said. “We drove tractors.”
In fact, Franklin County Fair President Fred Steiner said, although he has always been a “gentleman farmer,” it was Scranton’s passion for tractors that got him hooked too. He remembered riding a tractor with Scranton a few years ago, and it brought back memories of the days when Greenfield had more farmland — including his own barn with a couple of cows and 50 chickens, right next to where the fairgrounds are now.
“It brought back memories,” Steiner said. “Tractors are a big thing — show me a kid that doesn’t like tractors.”
The weather reports and the fact that the event was held the weekend after July 4 may have kept some people away, Scranton said, but the show was able to raise at least $1,000, all of which is donated to the fairgrounds for upkeep — it’s a free event, but donations are encouraged.
According to Scranton, there will be another Retired Iron Tractor Show next year. Organizers have decided a different weekend will probably work better, so that tractor and engine enthusiasts who are away for the holiday canattend the event.
Reach David McLellan at dmclellan@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 268.