Show attracts thousands of visitors, unique farm equipment

RANTOUL, Ill. — Visitors to the Half Century of Progress event are likely to see a piece or two of farm equipment that they have never seen before.

“Everyone had two years to work on stuff that’s never been there,” said Russell Buhr, co-chair of the biennial event. “It is interesting to see some of those one-of-a-kind things.”

In the field demonstration area, there can be 20 to 30 collectors lined up waiting to have their turn to enter the field.

“All the brands are there including stuff you don’t see anymore,” Buhr said. “That’s a neat thing.”

Buhr has answered a lot of phone calls from people who have never been to the event, which was started in 2003.

“It’s on their bucket list or a neighbor has said they have to go,” he said. “That’s why the show keeps getting bigger.”

Typically, people from 30-some states will travel to attend the show.

“A lot of people are bringing tractors or machinery from a long way away,” Buhr said.

“We are expecting 300-some IH 1260 tractors,” he said. “There are going to be some special ones there. I think serial No. 1 might even be there.”

In addition, the 100-year celebration of the Caterpillar company sparked the theme for this year — Come Feel the Earth Move.

“There will be bunch of them, playing a lot in the dirt,” Buhr said.

“We have a special place for the Caterpillar equipment,” he said. “They will be moving some dirt around with about every kind of piece of equipment they have, like road graders and bulldozers — you name it and it will probably be there doing something.”

People movers will be available throughout the show to provide rides for those who don’t have their own golf cart.

“The show is so large, you need to be able to go from one end to the other,” Buhr said. “You can get off the people mover, look around, and then a little while later when it comes back, you can get back on and go to another place.”

Meeting people is a special part of the Half Century event.

“People might be waiting for something to happen and they strike up a conversation,” Buhr said. “They might live 300 miles away, but all of a sudden they have a connection because they know someone in common.”

One year, Buhr provided a visitor at the show a ride to his car and he saw that he had Minnesota license plates.

“He told me where he was from and I have relations in the same town,” Buhr recalled. “It’s hard to believe how you can find something in common with people.”

“That’s the neat part about this show,” he said. “People can look at a tractor going through and someone says he had one like that, but it has this cab on it or it had this attachment on it.”