Various tractor makes to be displayed

Tractors displayed during the annual Threshermen’s Reunion come from all over.

A gentleman brought his old Massey-Harris all the way from Maine one year and machines typically come from places such as Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa in addition to the Pontiac area.

“It isn’t unusual to see a truck and trailer come in with four or five (tractors) on the back,” said Dave Herz, first vice-president of the reunion, which takes place during the upcoming Labor Day weekend in Pontiac.

Some rare four-wheel-drive tractors will be on the grounds for the 2016 show, which runs Sept. 1-5 at Threshermen’s Park. John Deere only produced around 100 of the 8020 tractors years ago and one is expected to be on display. Since John Deere is the featured brand, you can expect to see some of the early models such as the Waterloo Boy and the Model A.

“They really didn’t change the design much. In those years, they just kept changing some of the things that happened to them internally,” added Herz.

The Threshermen’s Reunion is a working show with something always happening during the five days. Wheat threshing occurs twice a day from wheat grown at the park and rock crushing and corn shelling demos also take place.

“We have a saw mill. Normally, he starts about 10 in the morning and then he’ll saw until 3 or 3:30 pretty much constant,” Herz said.

Visitors to the Threshermen’s will have the chance to see what the old machines are made of as a dynamometer will be setup each day with a pulley so the guys with old engines and Prairie tractors can “belt up” to it and display horsepower. Also, sanctioned tractor pulls are planned for three nights with antique and pro-stock classes. The Illini State Pullers come in Saturday night and on Sunday, it’s the ITPA 9500 pro farm and limited pro-stock classes.