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W
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Links to archived past pages on lower left
The contents of the “Weekly Feature” page are provided
to you for your entertainment, amusement, and perhaps information.
Here you may find articles of interest, pictures, historical information
on the Club, or whatever shuffles to the top of the pile on our
desk. The only defined characteristic of this space is that we
will make every effort to change/replace it around the middle of
each week. Thank you for visiting, and please stop by again. Click
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Aftermath
It’s like a law of the universe, tractor shows are spaced one
year apart so that all of the participants have time to forget how
much work, fun, and sleep deprivation is involved. As great as the
effort is during the preceding 2 weeks to get that show on the road,
it still doesn’t rival the concentrated frenzy of activity that
takes place the Monday after. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly
that place can be transformed from a small city to empty farmland,
in the space of one single Monday. After the weekend, the quiet and
peacefulness are rather a welcome sensation. Little whirlwinds of dust
idle their way down the well worn pulling tracks, and one by one, the
little blades of grass try to pry themselves loose from the face of
the packed earth. A twinge of sadness always accompanies the end of
the Big Show, and suddenly, it seems a long time until another August
happens. A lot can change in the space of a year.
It was a big one this time around, as we pretty much
knew it would be. The offset weekend that allowed folks to attend both
the show in
Buckley and ours was certainly a factor. Featuring the Red Power Reunion,
which was always our dominant brand by the numbers, almost guaranteed
a record crowd, both at the gate and on the field. A seasoned and well
travelled friend has been advancing a theory in recent times, noting
that he does not know of any tractor shows in Michigan, or even in
other States, that have a greater number of actual “tractors” on
the display field. A scant few other places may have larger numbers
of overall displays, but he opines that nobody else fields as many
tractors as the Oakley show does. Armed with that fact, my anonymous
friend further extrapolates that if Oakley is the biggest “tractor” show
in this Country, it very likely is the biggest one in the world. Now
there’s an advertising tag line that would read pretty nice on
the front page of our next showbook, don’t you think?? Maybe
we’ll designate a fact checking committee to look into that this
winter, since we’re all quite concerned about the “truth
in advertising” ethics that are the core value of Madison Avenue
types. After all, if we can’t trust what we read in an ad campaign,
who can we trust?
But, that’s all just speculation for now, today it’s time
to begin looking back on the outstanding weekend that was our 35th
Annual Mid Michigan Old Gas Tractor Show. We’ll have lots more
in the time to come.
(click individual photos to enlarge)
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