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John Deere is in the spotlight at annual tractor show

Jeff Barron
Lancaster Eagle Gazette
Ryan Young, from Rushville, back a 1937 John Deere model B tractor off a trailer Friday morning, Aug. 17, 2018, at the Fairfield County Fairgrounds in Lancaster. Young was showing six tractors at the Fairfield County Antique Tractor Club's annual show.

LANCASTER - John Deere fans will no doubt be happy as the iconic brand is featured at the 23rd annual Fairfield County Antique Tractor Club show at the county fairgrounds.

The show runs through Sunday and parking and admission are free.

The show ends at 8 p.m. on Friday and is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

The club expects about 400 tractors during the weekend, and many of them had arrived by late Friday morning. That includes the six John Deere tractors Young Family Farms from Rushville brought. One of the tractors is 1937 John Deere B with spiked steel wheels.

Mike Smith, from Marion, wipes water drops off his 1969 John Deere 3020 tractor Friday morning, Aug. 17, 2018, at the Fairfield County Fairgrounds in Lancaster. Smith was showing four of his 40 tractors at the Fairfield County Antique Tractor Club's annual show. The weekend show ends Sunday.

"I've only had it for about five years," Ryan Young said. "I've always wanted one, and I had one that was on rubber tires instead of the steel. I sold three project tractors and just bought one that was ready to go."

He said his 6-year-old son likes to ride it on the farm.

"I've thought about doing some haymaking just to run it," Young said. "But the steel wheels would push the hay in the ground before you could rake it up."

Young, 37, said he's always liked the nostalgia of the steel wheel tractors. He said he started driving tractors at 7 and has owned John Deere tractors all his life.

Young has come to the annual show before, but this is the first year he has displayed equipment.

John Deere equipment was featured make of tractors at the Fairfield County Antique Tractor Club's annual show at the Fairfield County Fairgrounds.

"The club's been after us to bring stuff in," he said. "So we just decided to clean some stuff up. It gives you a reason to wash them up and go meet some friends and other farmers and bring them in."

Also at the show is Mike Smith, who owns a tractor restoration business in Marion. One of the tractors he brought is a John Deere 1969 3020 and is equipped with factory-installed front-wheel assist and has a gasoline engine with power shifting and standard rear fenders.

"It's an awful, awful rare one," Smith said. "I'm very fortunate to own it. There was an apple orchard in upstate New York that bought this one brand new. They had a forklift on the back of it and they carried their crates of apples around."

Just how rare is Smith's 3020?

He said he and other collectors think it is the only such unit John Deere ever made with that assortment of features.

"That's the only one that's been found so far," Smith said. "But everybody thinks that's the only one."

He bought the rare tractor at an auction in Indiana about eight years ago. Smith said the tractor was in decent shape when he bought it, but its finish was dull.

"It wasn't beat up real bad," he said. "Not at all. I don't think they had this tractor in the orchards where the branches were beating on it. It must have been up around the barns where they moved the crates.

Ron Leopold, left, from Glandorf, takes a photograph of his wife Marty Leopold as she sits on a custom made John Deere crawler Friday, Aug. 17, 2018, at the Fairfield County Antique Tractor Club's annual show at the Fairfield County Fairgrounds in Lancaster.

Not every vehicle at the show Friday was a big green and yellow John Deere tractor. Dave Beiter, of Pleasantville, brought five Case garden tractors to the show. He owns 18 altogether.

"It's just been a passion of mine since I was growing up," Beiter said. "My grandpa farmed with Case equipment, my dad farmed with Case equipment and I've got the Case equipment, too."

He said there are lot of things a Case garden tractor can do, including plowing, tilling and snow blowing.

"You can do a lot of little things," Beiter said. "Things that are on a smaller scale than the big stuff."

The fairgrounds are located at 157 E. Fair Ave.

jbarron@gannett.com

740-681-4340

Twitter: @JeffDBarron