Wheels of Time Truck & Tractor Show

annual Viola horse and cold show is coming up this very weekend and we're here to talk about it with some of the key figures that make it happen behind the scenes.

Ashley Baker is here, vice chair of the board.

Later on we'll talk to Nathan Hansen all about the horse show which of course is a huge part of the event in Viola and Keith Thurst is here to talk about all the pulling going on this weekend as well.

First of all Ashley we'll start with you.

Is everything kind of ready to roll?

Great.

Yeah, good morning.

Yeah, we are, we're getting there.

Definitely.

And this year marks the 95th year of the Viola Horse & Co.

So we've been doing this since 1931.

And that's actually amazing and astonishing to think about 95 years of the small community tradition going strong.

So a little bit about our history, the name Viola Horse and Cocho stems from two local gentlemen that really wanted to promote agriculture in advanced genetics and breeding with horses in our small community.

And if you think about that, it was 1931, so that was back when horses were used for transportation still and still played a key role in agriculture and farming.

And since the beginning, the show has been a local attraction for horse enthusiasts as well as expanding to incorporate exhibits and a variety of food vendors and the parade and music.

And of course, our well-admired truck and tractor pull.

Lots of things going on.

I think about when it started, people were farming with horses.

I mean, the horses

were a lot

more plentiful, right?

Yep, definitely.

And you're looking for some of that history.

Do you have some history things on display during the weekend?

Yeah, we will have some exhibits at the Viola Community Building.

So stop in.

We have our local volunteer who actually just retired, Rhonda.

Um, she put together a quilt of like historic yearly, um, t-shirts.

So that will be on display on commercial street on the main drag.

So stop and check that out as well.

Switching gears.

Now we're going to talk to Nathan Hansen, also a member of the board and to helping to put on the big Viola horse and colch show this weekend.

Nathan, we want to first of all stress that everything in Viola is free this weekend as far as attendance,

right?

Free opener public love to see you come down and enjoy all the things we got going on It's gonna be a great weekend

and that includes free admission to the horse shows, right?

Yep.

Yep.

We are trying something new this year.

We added under the lights.

We're gonna do a Friday night We're calling it a barnyard bash We're gonna have a bacon and egg scramble which some people get a little confused by it It's kind of a weird name, but it's basically piglet catching and chicken catching

Separate that by kids, young younger kids and older kids and then a duck toss where you take a little rubber ducks and you got to toss them a certain distance and then apple bobbing and Then we got to get into the horse stuff and you got some horse events that are Are the ones we're gonna do this year.

It's called the shovel race and if you've never heard of the shovel race, it's a hoot to watch This drive it for us Nathan

describe well so what you do is you tie a tie a rope to the horn of the saddle and then you have somebody on the horse riding riding a horse and the other end of the rope gets tied a safe distance away to the handle of a grain shovel and you got to have a rider on the grain shovel you got to run down around a cone and whoever has the fastest time while staying on the grain shovel wins

And so it's just funny to watch because it's a hard time staying on that shovel and you're running down around that cone.

I'm guessing that's for the youngsters, right?

No, we actually want to limit that to the older kids because it can be a little risky.

So it's 14 above.

We thought, you know, it's kind of a safety challenge.

So we don't want to see anybody get hurt in any of the events on the ground.

Um, we just thought it better be safe and make it more of the older kids,

right?

I meant younger than a lot younger than me, you know, cause

I'm not going to be doing it.

I can tell you that I'm not

out

there doing it.

We're smarter than that.

Yeah.

Can you tell us?

Go ahead.

Got a few more events too.

We got a Disney cowboy.

Kids got to ride their horse down, jump off, put their head on a bat, spin around the bat and try to run back across the timeline, timeline.

with all falling down.

Not many kids can actually complete that because they're so dizzy, they don't go too far away from the bat.

Then we got what's called the rescue race, which is kind of funny to watch because kids got to stand on a barrel and then another kid starts out at the timer, got to run down and scoop that kid up off the barrel and get them on the back of their horse and complete whoever's got the fastest time there.

So yeah, it's gonna be fun more.

We got one more called the the soda race Where you ride your horse down you stop at a barrel we're gonna have Pop for you to drink and we stress for you to drink the pops not throw it all over yourself or at the judge So yeah, it's gonna be a good time Try to have it under the lights and a new arena that was donated by the generosity of the public and

There are people that built the arena.

Can't try that enough.

I have to wonder, Nathan, do you guys stay up late at night trying to think of some of these fun activities?

You know, some of them are actually, some events, you know, we've done like some of the other grounds, they do some of them already, like the Pop Race and the Dizzy Cowboy and the Rescue Race.

The kids really love the Rescue Race, the Pop Race and the Dizzy Cowboys.

And we're trying to think of something else to do Because we want it, you know, not everybody has a horse You know like my daughter wanted a horse.

We didn't have I didn't want a horse.

So we got two But you know, it's just who it is and if the kids that don't have a horse We want them to be included too.

So we thought you know what?

Why can't we do like piglet catching and chicken and stuff like that?

So we can conclude everybody now

So that's and yes some of the kids do stay up really late and kind of makes it a long day for the parents but we still they love to have fun and teaches them responsibility with the horses and we get to enjoy seeing the smiles on their face with doing a good job and the camaraderie they have the team sports that

They're always cheering on their rider, their friends, and we're just, it's like any other sport.

Well, I know we talked to Ashley about the history of Iowa Horse and Coal Show and horses certainly been a large part.

That's how it all got started.

Um,

so

it's a, it's a big draw.

And do you have events both days, Nathan?

Yep.

Yep.

And then on Saturday, we're going to do more of the gym, kind of type stuff.

Um, we have barrel racing, pole bending,

And there's something on Saturday too.

Saturday is going to be a great day to do some of the other events.

Those all get kicked off around nine in the morning.

And those will actually take a break around noon for the parade.

do that.

We also do a belt can and you know the kids got to run down and drop a tennis ball into a melt can and then also we call flag where you ride down and you stick a like a small flag or you grab a flag out of a like a small bucket then you ride to the other side and put it back in the flag.

And the other bucket that's pretty neat to see too because like you know, some of the kids are really fast at it and some of them their horses just don't like getting that close to the barrel But we've got kids we've got lead line kids that do that, you know as young as three and then the way up to the seniors, you know older older parents that want to do it and So it's fun to see some of the competition that goes on Most definitely

Mother nature is getting the rain out of her system this week.

We should have a great week next week

We'll sure hope so We'll do our best to read a good forecast for you anything else you want to add Nathan about this weekend

It's free come down.

Please enjoy this show a lot of food vendors.

It's it's just gonna be a great time in Viola every year.

It's just Something nice to have

in great community

Some of the events you described to I'm guessing people get their phones out because these are good photo and video opportunities aren't they?

Oh, there's memories you'll have and the videos are watching Yes, please do got your phones out record it show it to your loved ones that can't make it You know they're different state or you know, maybe in a nursing home.

They can see their grandkids watch their grandkids do it It's

It's a fun

event.

Well, it sounds like we appreciate taking time to talk to us, Nathan.

Good luck this weekend and have a fun and safe weekend at my old horse and colcho.

All right.

Thank you too, sir.

Nathan Hansen joining us here on WRC during our morning show back in the studio.

Ashley Baker is here.

Ashley, maybe you could go over some of the events and the timeline at this weekend's horse and colcho.

Yeah, thanks.

So, um,

Along with the horse show, we're going to be looking at this year's events.

We have a horse pulling contest on the 26th, so that's this coming Saturday, starting at 9am at the Viola American Legion building, which is across from the truck and tractor pull area.

The Viola American Legion will also be serving charcoal chicken hot dogs and refreshments starting at 10am.

We will have carnival rides.

and food stands brought to you by the Sunny Hill Attractions, so games, carnival rides, foods.

The wristband is offered on Friday night from six to 10 p.m.

for $30, and rides will be both Friday and Saturday, the 25th and 26th.

We also have our annual raffle drawing, so we will have a ticket booth set up right beside the Viola Community Building, and that will open on Friday at 6 p.m.

and the drawing winner will be announced 10 p.m.

on that Saturday night.

So stop and pick up your tickets.

We also will have our annual parade, which is at 1 p.m.

on Saturday the 26th.

And who doesn't love a parade?

So there's usually a big crowd and lots of candy and creative floats.

So, so definitely check that out.

Our annual country music dance featuring Monnie Berger and the country gold band is from six to 10 p.m.

on Saturday at the Viola Community Building.

And there will be an arts and crafts show from eight a.m.

to five p.m.

on the 26th, which is Saturday, located at

located on Commercial Street across from Banker Park.

So you should see a big arts and crafts sign and be able to stop and check out some different vendors there.

Kinshe's Petal Pool, Kids Petal Pool, Traktor Pool at the Citizens Bank parking lot.

That will be immediately following the parade on Saturday.

So probably around 2.30 p.m.

You can stop by there.

And then we have a lot of wonderful exhibits.

So the boys and girls and household exhibits will be located at the Viola Community Building and be available for viewing from 9 to 4 p.m.

on Saturday.

We also have junior livestock exhibits, which will be happening at the Don Kellogg Shelter from 9 to noon on Saturday, and that would be small livestock as well as dairy cows.

Um, new this year, we had, we will have a stage coach in town that will be giving, offering some rides.

Um, and we also will have a shoe shining stand, um, old tool, old fashioned shoe shining set up outside the community building.

So offering free shoe shine.

So, so definitely bring your boots.

You've got a lot of things covered there.

My goodness.

And, and the parade, um, you just touched on that a little bit, but it is really second to none.

It's a huge parade.

Yup.

Yup.

It's a great parade.

Um,

Like I said, lots of candy and lots of lots of different floats.

So it's it's pretty fun.

Can people register in advance or do you want them to register for the raid forehand?

Yeah, it'd be great.

If you'd like to still submit a parade float, you can definitely connect with us.

We do have a Facebook page, the Viola horse and cultural Facebook page.

Otherwise you can

or you can email us at Viola Hort Viola Colt show parade at gmail.com

Viola horse and Colt show this very weekend.

We're talking about the truck and tractor pull and Keith Durst is back to share with us his expertise.

How you doing Keith?

I'm doing great Phil.

Nice to be back.

Good to be here with you and talking about this.

So what excites you about this upcoming weekend?

It's always exciting to do what I do with the horse and colt show committee.

I stick pretty close to the tractor pole and I feel really good about this year's

events with the tractor pole.

We got some good tractors coming in.

And not only do we have a high level competition coming in from outside the area, but we have classes for the locals as well.

And they've supported us well throughout the years.

That's a big draw.

Isn't it the locals?

Yeah.

Yeah.

The locals, I mean, without their support, it wouldn't be the show that we have today.

So it's later in the season.

Does it have a lot of meaning for some of the people that are in this?

Uh, yes, it does.

Um, in years past we were kind of the final pull.

It's not so much that way anymore, but we're definitely late and, um,

with the people that are involved.

Some of them deal with farming and such and this is their last pull of the year.

So go over the schedule if

you would because I know you've got a lot of classes to talk about.

Yeah we have as many classes this year as we've had in the past.

Just to start out with our timing.

Friday night we start at six o'clock.

Saturday we have antiques and some hot antiques.

at 10 in the morning.

And then our major or our biggest show is Saturday afternoon starts at 3pm.

Are the grounds ready to roll?

We're close.

There's some final touches that need to be taken care of.

We continue to work on it up to show time.

It seems every year, but we're very confident that everything will be ready to roll.

It's been a big

part of it for years.

Do

you

remember going

there as a youngster, Keith?

Yeah, you know, I've been out of high school for a number of years now and it's been 30 plus years that I've pretty much went there, whether I was watching or a participant or helping with the past chairman for a number of years before, before I've taken my current position.

So it's been a part of my life for, for a long, long time and, and I've enjoyed every minute of it.

Every pole is unique.

What what makes the Viola pole?

What's what's different about that?

Oh boy Well The reason why I'm Taking this lead into it is The type of pole we have The awesome track that's available to us the

very large crowd that we've had over the years.

Even though some years we've fought with rain, we continue to get a nice crowd.

There's a lot of things that I may be forgetting some of them.

In the past, Keith, I know you've done some special dedications.

Any of those going on this year?

Yeah, this year we're going to continue with our inductees into the Hall of Fame for the people interested or listening.

We intend on shooting for some period between six and seven o'clock Saturday evening to do our inductees.

And then that'll be followed by a Calcutta of the Superstock trucks, which is more or less an auction sale of who's going to win that class.

And 50% of the Calcutta goes toward the horse and colt show.

for truck and tractor pull expenses and 50% goes to the winner.

When we're done with the Calcutta, we'll bring them trucks right back after the break and they'll have that class

pulled and we'll know who our winner is.

Interesting.

Which class excites you the

most?

You know, since I've been involved in tractor pulling, it's been the tractor classes.

Personally, I pull in the light limited super stock.

I'm hoping to have my own tractor there this year, which would be kind of nice just because I haven't made it to participate in the last few years due to breakage and other things, but we're hoping to be there this year.

Um, and you know, I like the diesel trucks too.

I like, I like them all, you know, but the bottom line is we want to make sure that we have a fun, safe, friendly environment for all of our competitors

and fans.

Well said.

I'm guessing it takes an army to put this on.

You must have a lot of helpers and volunteers.

There are a lot.

I mean, my co-chair, John Young, he helps me, uh, immensely with.

with keeping order.

We have a number of flag men.

We have a number of people, you know, signing people up, making sure people are in the right class, people helping out.

with rules especially on the truck side since I don't know everything about the truck side so we got we got people all over that are that are definitely involved in we appreciate everyone's

support.

How can people get a hold here there's some contacts you'd like to give out if somebody's interested Keith?

Sure I mean first off our flyer can be seen on the Facebook page

and it's all over Facebook.

We've given a number of these flyers out to our local businesses and such, but my phone number, if you have any questions about rules or what's going on is 309-826-4896 in my co-chair.

John, his number is 608-604-1415.

Okay.

What's your favorite food to have at Viola, horse and gozo?

Cause food is like a huge deal here.

Oh

man, there's so much good food.

It's hard to, you know, we have pizza, we have pulled pork, we have popcorn.

Yeah, loaded.

Oh yeah.

Potato.

I mean, the list goes on and on.

If you can't find food that you like at Viola, then you might not feel good.

Carmel apple season too.

So there's probably some good desserts and things

like that.

Absolutely as well.

Yeah.

You know, we have beverages that most would enjoy as

well.

No doubt.

Ashley, what about you?

If you're going down there for, you know, like food in

general.

Yeah.

Um, well, we'll have quite a few food vendors.

We have, um,

You know, we have the yearos or gyros, however you want to say it.

And they're famous in Viola.

We have Mexican food.

We're going to have gourmet French toast, food cart.

We're going to have coffee and breakfast and desserts and hub fries will be joining us.

They just switched ownership and reached out.

So we're going to be bringing them back this year.

So that's wonderful.

Yeah, I mean, I like to taste a little bit of everything.

Yeah,

he's like a taste of the area,

I

think in some ways.

Ashley, is there anything else that you'd like to add that we didn't ask you earlier?

Yeah, I want to talk a little bit about volunteers.

and our community and you know volunteers that's that's why the show goes on and that's why we've been so successful for the last 95 years strong.

There's a lot of folks that have been volunteering and helping out for like 40 plus years and you know they're just starting to retire and pass the torch on to the next generation and it's so important to volunteer in your community and give back

to the places and communities that really made us who we are today.

So I just want to stress the importance of volunteering and how we really appreciate everyone that steps up during horse and colcho and even before and preparations and afterwards and cleanups.

So we really, really do appreciate our volunteers.

Cleanup is a big thing.

I mean you'd probably rather be

taking a nap or something, you know, after all of that, but it's good that people step up and get it done.

Yep.

Definitely.

Great.

And the parade starts at one.

That's another one of our most common questions here.

Yep.

The parade will be on Saturday at one PM.

Um, and it's a big crowd and lots of floats.

And if you still would like to enter floats, you can, um, you can show up day of, and you'll probably be at the back of the line, but you're definitely welcome to come.

or you can email us at horse cult show parade at gmail.com.

Wonderful.

Keith, anything you want to add today?

Yeah, I certainly don't want to forget about our sponsors, both for the horse and cult show as a whole.

And then we have multiple sponsors that do sponsor the tractor pole.

And without the sponsors that we have, we couldn't do what we do.

So we don't want to forget about any of our sponsors.

I don't want to list them all here.

It would take more than the time allotted.

Another thing that I'd like to cover is there's no charge to get in to watch the tractor pulls.

It's a free event.

It's been a free event since this started.

And we want to continue that way as long as it's feasible and possible.

On Friday night, we have eight classes scheduled.

There's going to be five classes that we're going to bring the top five back to Saturday night.

So that we did a couple of years ago and it's back by popular demand.

We got pullers, we got.

fans that like that so we're bringing that back and then even though we have multiple classes on our flyer we have added a couple of classes this Saturday afternoon and I got to think what they were now but one of them was a 14 mile an hour farm class

and one is a pro-farm class.

If anybody has any questions in regards to them, they can certainly get a hold of me, but we're open to making a class if there's sufficient support.

On your poster, I see your equal opportunity.

You have Alice Chulmers, Case IH, and international representative

there.

We got the most popular tractors in our area.

I mean, there are a few John Deere's and we've had them on the flyer in the past.

And, um, we can't forget about the Dodge Cummings there.

Oh, yes.

There's Schlafer and Drew Hooth's truck is on the flyer once this year.

A couple of local guys that have been great supporters of our poll.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

With the black smoke coming out the, the back or the stack there.

Exactly.

Pretty cool.

All right.

Well, we, we hope we'll try to reach a good forecast this weekend, Keith, and make it a nice track for you

too.

That would be, that would be awesome if everybody.

cooperating.

While you're enjoying the truck and tractor pull, check out the music too.

We're going to have High Mileage is going to be rocking it Friday night after the pull.

And then we have a DJ, DJ Don will be cranking tunes on Saturday.

Sounds good.

Keith will be worn out from dancing too.

So it's going to be a big weekend.

Thanks for coming in you two.

We appreciate it.

Thank you.

Ashley Baker joining us along with Keith Thirst.

Viola Horse and Cold Show is coming up this very weekend.

The annual Wheels of Time Truck and Tractor show will be happening next weekend in our community at the Richland County Fairgrounds back this year with a return visit for our show.

Paul Posh and Bill Geer, good to see you fellas.

You doing well?

Good morning.

Good to see you.

It seemed like it should be Wheels of Time show time again,

Paul.

Yeah, it's been there.

We've had plenty of things to do and plenty of things to do yet.

I mean, we're getting ready to go.

We got everything pretty much in place.

Hope to have a really good show.

We got Alice Chalmers this year.

And we usually have a really good turnout of trucks, many old, all the way to brand new ones.

And we welcome all.

How do you decide which brand of tractor, Bill, that you're going to feature?

You rotate those?

It's a rotation.

We look back on the records, who's been here, when, and then as we turn the clock and see, OK, it's time to have this year's Alice.

Last year, we had

case out there next year be John Deere's coming in and We just were talking and we got to figure out what's come the year after because we always like to advertise ahead of time for people know what's up up and coming at the show

You're a member of the the truck club Paul.

Can you tell us about that?

Yes, I belong to the southern Wisconsin chapter ATHS is a fairly

widespread organization.

We have members all the way from northern Minnesota to southern Illinois to southwestern Iowa.

We've got some that come up from Ohio.

It's a very widespread group and we have a very nice wide selection of trucks, everything from reels to Kenworth's and Peterbilt's.

You name it, we get all kinds of different odd ones to show up.

lots of different ages of those

trucks to tremendous amount of ages.

We, we have some, uh, that clear back in the 1909, all the way forwards, uh, you know, a lot of them in the fifties, sixties and seventies.

Um, I happened to know for sure that there's a 31 real flying cloud car that's going to be there this year, a

car,

a car, real made cars for a number of years.

And, uh,

I just happen to know that there's a 1931 that's going to should be there as far as I know.

When I look at those trucks and I think about not that it's, it's a comfortable job now, but I think about those over the ride truck or over the road truckers back then.

And man, that had to be a bumpy ride sometimes.

They earn their money.

Them men earn their money.

They were, they just.

do you look at what they had for sleepers a little shelf about a foot wide behind the seats and they were expected to sleep on that or they just slept in the seat draped over the steering wheel and and uh you know i've seen a number of trucks some of these early 50s trucks that they went coast to coast every week and boy i sure hate to ride that coast to coast in them old trucks

you know with tractors a lot of times it's the ones that we grew up

you know, using our dad's head.

Is that kind of the way it is with trucks as well?

Oh, kind of.

You kind of see a tendency there that a lot of people is what they grew up with.

And so that's what they kind of collect.

And some as time goes by, they get themselves a little bit nicer one to drive to and from the show and haul the old one on the trailer behind.

probably get here a little faster that way

a little bit faster yes and more comfortable

sure so do you get correspondence do you know about how many are coming at this point or do they just show up

mostly it's just people know about the show and they just every year they plan on it we have many of the club members that they actually plan their vacation for this weekend so that they're here they come in a lot of nowadays are coming in on Thursday so they can go on the truck drive on Friday morning

to benefit a relay for life, and they just thoroughly enjoy it.

We're not going to have as much color this year as we normally do, but Richland County is still a very pretty place to go for a drive-through with them old trucks, and the group really, really enjoys it.

It's a chance for people to kind of watch the parade, so to speak.

So when will they be leaving on Friday next week?

They usually leave around 9 to 9.30 in the morning.

They'll leave the fairgrounds.

And I haven't been informed what direction they're going this year.

Kelly Schaefer is usually the one in charge of that.

And they try to go a different direction every year, so it's not the same.

I know last year they went up towards Rockton.

and up through that way and one year they went out through Gays Mill out on 171 and all the trucks couldn't when they before they left they didn't know why we kept telling them you really don't want to put take your trailer on this you want a Bob tail and when they come around the corner coming out of Gays Mills and you could see the back end of the trailer while you were going around the corner they decided maybe it was a good should have brought the trailer with a couple of them

How come I'm thinking of a CW McCall song, you know, about Wolf Creek Pass or something like

that?

That's kind of what it is over there going up through Gaze Mills there.

Bill, on Saturday, what are the events?

Are they going to do something similar with tractors that day?

Yes, we have our tractor ride Saturday morning.

Lineups around nine.

We leave the fairgrounds 930.

We got about a 16, 17 mile route we take this year.

We would.

Taking a different same route.

We did about five years ago We've been asked to go down to Pine Valley for we go through the parking lot for residents can view the tractors.

We have some formal former members down there and they Specifically asked us to come down there.

So that's the plan this year.

So We'll be leaving the fairgrounds heading in the rich and center and you know county

Y and up around down through the Ash Creek area and down to Pine Valley.

So I bet those residents can tell you probably all about those tractors and I'm sure some of history.

No doubt.

So that's going to be coming up next week.

And then when can people start bringing their implements into the fairgrounds area, Bill?

We will start accepting things on Wednesday.

We'll be out there working.

And if they need special arrangements, get there earlier, call Paul or

Kelly or myself so and we can make arrangements out there.

Some people bring more than one they bring a lot don't they?

Yes Some local Alice people that probably have half the Alice line up there.

I can imagine

and Any idea of the numbers like what's the greatest number of trucks and tractors you've had through the years you remember

Paul?

Usually we range in 110 to 130 trucks

And the tractors are kind of in that same range that we run in that 110, 120, 130 tractors.

We, you know, that just seems to be the number we seem to hit.

We have many guys, you know, I have one particular group that they belong to the truck club and the tractor club and they'll bring their trucks and they'll just leave the tractors on the trailer and they'll usually parked under the grandstands with them and, you know,

but they show up every year and we're happy to have

them.

Pretty convenient that they can do that.

We

try to help anybody that we can.

If you don't want to unload it, we will find you a place to park so that you can leave your tractor or implement whatever you happen to be hauling on the trailer if that's what you prefer to do.

A couple of years we had somebody that was bringing in a whole bunch of Sears stuff

He had a 35 or 40 foot trailer loaded down with everything that you could buy out of the Sears catalog for, for car, for tractors and plows and lawn and garden stuff.

He, you know, it's just amazing the stuff he had on that trailer.

I've learned over the years too, um, Bill, that the implements like the cultivators and those kinds of things, those are a lot more rare than the tractors.

Uh, at this point, yeah, a lot of those influence from way back.

are hard to find.

My son's actually working with a David Bradley line, and he's been running over Southwest Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, picking up, implements the amount to this piece of equipment.

It's

on a David Bradley.

On a David Bradley.

Okay, wow.

It's kind of like a oversized over a rototiller, what I call it, but but that's

It's got several implements to it, and he's been collecting them, so.

Everybody has their ones that they love.

I can't help but think of the show, Paul, without thinking of Danny Schaefer and how this all started.

Maybe you could talk about the history a little bit for

us.

Well, this all started with Danny Schaefer and Mark Welty, basically, and there was another gentleman over at Blogenville.

He just passed away recently that they all got together one

Sunday or Saturday afternoon and decided to have a little picnic.

And then the following, they actually had it at Loganville and the following year, then Danny and Mark had one out here and the following year, then it's just, they kept telling more, a few people and more and more people started showing up.

And then finally about the fourth or fifth year, uh,

The Dursts and the Maglins started asking, well, could we bring some tractors down there?

And, oh, you know, Danny, he was such a generous person.

Sure, go ahead.

And so they started lining up tractors down by the road and all of these trucks that were coming in.

And, you know, and it's just kind of exploded from there until the unfortunate passing of Danny.

And then we had moved to the fairgrounds because of the family didn't want to host it there any longer because Danny, he did so much for this club.

I mean,

The person doesn't realize it until you got to do it.

How many things he always did?

It amazed me, Paul, how they could get so many vehicles in Danny and Penny's yard because they found a way to fit them all in there, didn't they?

Well, that's kind of the deal with that one, though, that once you were in that main yard, you were there pretty much until Sunday.

You weren't going to get out.

So if you didn't tell Danny that you had to go early,

You weren't going to get out of there until Sunday because they had a packed in there that you there's no way out without till somebody in the front moves.

Nobody really

cared though.

I don't think nobody's ever never had anybody really stand there complaining and grumble about it.

I've never heard them anyway.

But you know and we still do that today.

There's some some places we park trucks that you know it's not possible probably to get out till sometime on Sunday.

But you know if you tell us.

When you come in, that you got to leave at a certain time, we will park you someplace so you can go.

So the question is, Bill, how do you guys put this on?

Because it's, it's free admission and how do you do it?

Well, we get money from our pie stand up there.

The ladies, the

ladies from the pie stand, they are such a tremendous help.

And they're the ones that fund the whole thing.

We got to give them credit.

Yes, we do.

They and they and they sell the pie through the the weekend.

They're

all the way through the weekend.

Uh-huh members are required to furnish two pies I don't know we Nancy's kind of into it and she's gone 12 14 pies whatever She's just make sure we got plenty of pies at the fair to sell and that's I've made basic income coming from the show Biggest challenge for Nancy

is keeping you out of them in the meantime probably

yeah, I

Just get up there fairgrounds.

I'm bacon

today.

So look for the pie stand any other food that will be available through the weekend.

The four eaters will be there and they've done an excellent job in recent years for us.

They have brats and burgers and and hot dogs and usually some beans and

pulled pork.

Sometimes they have pulled pork and you know they just have a tremendous menu.

I feel they do us an outstanding job.

They also be cooking breakfast on Saturday and Sunday morning out there.

They have usually pancakes and sausage on one morning, and then they were doing eggs and sausage on the

other.

One morning they had biscuits and gravy.

And what are the hours?

When can people start browsing?

When the sun comes up and when that sets.

Basically how it works.

Ample

hours.

I'm usually there from daylight to a way after

dark.

Tell me about the threshing.

Are you going to be doing that again this year?

We will be threshing on Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday, we hope to be started by one o'clock or whenever I get off the tractor ride and give it up to help them again.

And Sunday, we start 12 o'clock or if weather is moving in, we will move it up and start at 11, 1130 whenever we can get it done up there.

Do you find, who's machine do you use?

Ray Swenson owns the Thrasher.

And he, usually they're helping us.

Tom McGlynn is one of them that gets the bundles for us from the Amish.

And then we get a crew working at it.

So we like to get more younger people in helping us.

And actually we had a good crew in there.

I took a good crew to unload three wagons last year.

This year we only got two, so.

it's a good thing to see

though and watch

and

yes it

is part of our

history right it's history out there so

very important i think paul that the young people see this kind of thing and then you know early agriculture

well this is what we're trying to encourage you know both both early agriculture and also early trucking industry i mean you know when you look at some of these trucks you really understand that was not the

the easiest job in the world driving these trucks, no power steering, no air conditioning.

I mean, you roll the windows down, that's as cool as it gets.

I mean, many of the roads were so bad at the time, 25, 30 miles an hour is all you could do on the roads.

I mean, these, these people earn their money.

Were they tough to drive?

I

mean, without power steering, driving down the road, going, you know, actually driving forward.

They're not too bad to drive.

But when you pull into the, into the yard and you got a back up to the loading dock, now you're going to wrestle with that truck quite a bit because you don't have power steering.

It's all arm strong.

Yeah.

Can you imagine backing into an alley in downtown Chicago or somewhere like that back in the day?

Exactly.

Yeah.

Actually, I've driven a truck without power steering with along the Mark Welty and, and long as you were out on the road, it wasn't a bad truck to drive.

But when you pulled into the yard and had the back up to the loading dock,

It was a whole other story.

Some of the tractors were like that with white front ends and no power steering.

That's true.

I mean, I never had to experience that with a white front without power steering.

but i know there's a several mouth there i was always narrow front tractors they were pretty easy hand a separate getting plowed ground in a very different end out there once in a

while once in a while right so what uh... what brand or what really excites you about the show bill when you look at uh... wheels of time

just to walk through and see all the different tractors and implements that come out there i mean it's amazing people dragging in this implemented that implement we've never seen it before so

This year, hopefully, we get our new tractor we recently inherited.

My son's got a 300 utility international with a very rare loader on it.

It's a one-of-a-kind loader.

The engineer was building it at the plant down there, and it's the only one that was ever built like that.

So it's your new tractor.

It's like 70 years old.

Yeah, that's correct.

It's about 70 years old.

So is there a limit tractors before a certain year

or

just bring anything

anything and it doesn't have to run if you got got an old rusty one that you got to drag it in on a chain and you're proud of it.

Bring it in.

We welcome everything.

There's been years we've had rusty old trucks brought in there.

They were trying to complete a line of international trucks one year.

And some of the trucks they bought in, they were a sight to behold.

So all stages of restoration and some not.

That's correct.

It's fine with us.

We are not, we don't give trophies for best or worst or anything else.

It's just all about having fun.

Just loads of fun to listen to some of the stories behind some of these trucks and tractors and things like that.

I mean, it's just amazing what you can learn from these people.

What truck excites you the most, Paul?

Well, I own a Diamond Reel, 73.

Unfortunately, it's in the shop for working on it right now, so it won't make it this year.

I did a dummy.

I thought I was going to do something simple and take the old rusty roof air conditioner off.

By the time I got that off, I got the headliner out of the inside of the cab and the lights off of it in order to get to it.

And I just decided, okay, now I got to get busy and just get busy sanding it and put some paint on it so it looks a little nicer.

Are they easy to find parts for?

No, it's getting harder and harder, especially here about 10 years ago, the price of scrap iron went up so high.

and so many of these old trucks in Salvi Jards just got crushed.

I mean they just turned them into iron so it is getting more and more difficult to find parts.

If you don't know somebody to hook you up with some parts it may be a real struggle so don't go by just any old truck.

make sure how complete it is, or that you know somebody that knows where to find parts.

Indeed.

Or talk to somebody like yourself that has a little experience.

Well, I might be able to help point you in the right direction because I don't know where to find all the parts you might need.

Indeed.

Always appreciate it.

Now, Bill comes bearing gifts here.

He's got something.

Oh, a bottle of ski.

How about that?

Wow.

Where did you get that, Bill?

I purchased it up in International Falls, Minnesota.

Oh, I better let it set before I open it.

It might have shook a little bit on the way.

It's been sitting around for

a couple weeks.

And a couple of big apples too.

I don't know if I've ever seen an apple that big.

No, that's a honey crisp.

They come from the Oakwood fruit farm

up

there.

If I had taken this to the teacher, I surely wouldn't have had to sit in the corner that day.

Well, that's why I brought two.

One for Hank, the teacher, so.

Oh, you'll

get one

for Hank

too.

Anything else either you want to add about wheels of time?

Just don't forget to thank the ladies at the pie stand.

They do such a tremendous job for us.

We have a special area set up for young people that want to bring in an exhibit.

If it's a tractor or something, we have a special place right in front of the building for them to park their vehicles and they can put their own sign on it.

We'll provide them with a sign for it.

We have word that there's going to be some dioramas show up that we're at the fair.

We'll also be there.

Plus, anybody has got some toys they want to display.

We have all the display cabinets there.

If the ladies have something they'd like to display,

We've got plenty of display cabinets that are available at the fairgrounds there that they can set up things inside there.

If you have a large display that needs a building, we have the use of the buildings.

We can set you up someplace in one of the buildings if nothing else.

Well, the trucks and tractors be kind of on display like they have been in the past.

In the past, it'll be pretty much the same.

You'll have the Alice Chalmers right inside the gate there in the first row.

and then the trucks we just plug them in as much many places we can get them big trucks be into

perfect anything you want to add bill

uh it's handicap accessible out there if you don't feel you can walk we've got golf carts uh utv's people give you rides otherwise if you don't want to get out of your vehicle you can you're welcome to drive around up there it's all black top and it's easy to get around and

We welcome everybody out there for the show.

Good to know.

Just drive slow that you don't run over any pedestrians.

Yep.

Take

it slow.

All right.

Well, we'll keep plugging it.

We'll try to keep reading a good forecast for you next weekend too.

So sounds good.

Good luck guys.

Thank you.

Thanks for coming in.

Bill Gehr and Paul Posh and the In Wheels of Time heading to our community, Richland County Fairgrounds next weekend.

The annual Wheels of Time Truck and Tractor show will be happening next weekend in our community at the Richland County Fairgrounds back this year with a return visit for our show.

Paul Posh and Bill Geer, good to see you fellas.

You doing well?

Good morning.

Good to see you.

It seemed like it should be Wheels of Time show time again,

Paul.

Yeah, it's been there.

We've had plenty of things to do and plenty of things to do yet.

I mean, we're getting ready to go.

We got everything pretty much in place.

Hope to have a really good show.

We got Alice Chalmers this year.

And we usually have a really good turnout of trucks, many old, all the way to brand new ones.

And we welcome all.

How do you decide which brand of tractor, Bill, that you're going to feature?

You rotate those?

It's a rotation.

We look back on the records, who's been here, when, and then as we turn the clock and see, OK, it's time to have this year's Alice.

Last year, we had

case out there next year be John Deere's coming in and We just were talking and we got to figure out what's come the year after because we always like to advertise ahead of time for people know what's up up and coming at the show

You're a member of the the truck club Paul.

Can you tell us about that?

Yes, I belong to the southern Wisconsin chapter ATHS is a fairly

widespread organization.

We have members all the way from northern Minnesota to southern Illinois to southwestern Iowa.

We've got some that come up from Ohio.

It's a very widespread group and we have a very nice wide selection of trucks, everything from reels to Kenworth's and Peterbilt's.

You name it, we get all kinds of different odd ones to show up.

lots of different ages of those

trucks to tremendous amount of ages.

We, we have some, uh, that clear back in the 1909, all the way forwards, uh, you know, a lot of them in the fifties, sixties and seventies.

Um, I happened to know for sure that there's a 31 real flying cloud car that's going to be there this year, a

car,

a car, real made cars for a number of years.

And, uh,

I just happen to know that there's a 1931 that's going to should be there as far as I know.

When I look at those trucks and I think about not that it's, it's a comfortable job now, but I think about those over the ride truck or over the road truckers back then.

And man, that had to be a bumpy ride sometimes.

They earn their money.

Them men earn their money.

They were, they just.

do you look at what they had for sleepers a little shelf about a foot wide behind the seats and they were expected to sleep on that or they just slept in the seat draped over the steering wheel and and uh you know i've seen a number of trucks some of these early 50s trucks that they went coast to coast every week and boy i sure hate to ride that coast to coast in them old trucks

you know with tractors a lot of times it's the ones that we grew up

you know, using our dad's head.

Is that kind of the way it is with trucks as well?

Oh, kind of.

You kind of see a tendency there that a lot of people is what they grew up with.

And so that's what they kind of collect.

And some as time goes by, they get themselves a little bit nicer one to drive to and from the show and haul the old one on the trailer behind.

probably get here a little faster that way

a little bit faster yes and more comfortable

sure so do you get correspondence do you know about how many are coming at this point or do they just show up

mostly it's just people know about the show and they just every year they plan on it we have many of the club members that they actually plan their vacation for this weekend so that they're here they come in a lot of nowadays are coming in on Thursday so they can go on the truck drive on Friday morning

to benefit a relay for life, and they just thoroughly enjoy it.

We're not going to have as much color this year as we normally do, but Richland County is still a very pretty place to go for a drive-through with them old trucks, and the group really, really enjoys it.

It's a chance for people to kind of watch the parade, so to speak.

So when will they be leaving on Friday next week?

They usually leave around 9 to 9.30 in the morning.

They'll leave the fairgrounds.

And I haven't been informed what direction they're going this year.

Kelly Schaefer is usually the one in charge of that.

And they try to go a different direction every year, so it's not the same.

I know last year they went up towards Rockton.

and up through that way and one year they went out through Gays Mill out on 171 and all the trucks couldn't when they before they left they didn't know why we kept telling them you really don't want to put take your trailer on this you want a Bob tail and when they come around the corner coming out of Gays Mills and you could see the back end of the trailer while you were going around the corner they decided maybe it was a good should have brought the trailer with a couple of them

How come I'm thinking of a CW McCall song, you know, about Wolf Creek Pass or something like

that?

That's kind of what it is over there going up through Gaze Mills there.

Bill, on Saturday, what are the events?

Are they going to do something similar with tractors that day?

Yes, we have our tractor ride Saturday morning.

Lineups around nine.

We leave the fairgrounds 930.

We got about a 16, 17 mile route we take this year.

We would.

Taking a different same route.

We did about five years ago We've been asked to go down to Pine Valley for we go through the parking lot for residents can view the tractors.

We have some formal former members down there and they Specifically asked us to come down there.

So that's the plan this year.

So We'll be leaving the fairgrounds heading in the rich and center and you know county

Y and up around down through the Ash Creek area and down to Pine Valley.

So I bet those residents can tell you probably all about those tractors and I'm sure some of history.

No doubt.

So that's going to be coming up next week.

And then when can people start bringing their implements into the fairgrounds area, Bill?

We will start accepting things on Wednesday.

We'll be out there working.

And if they need special arrangements, get there earlier, call Paul or

Kelly or myself so and we can make arrangements out there.

Some people bring more than one they bring a lot don't they?

Yes Some local Alice people that probably have half the Alice line up there.

I can imagine

and Any idea of the numbers like what's the greatest number of trucks and tractors you've had through the years you remember

Paul?

Usually we range in 110 to 130 trucks

And the tractors are kind of in that same range that we run in that 110, 120, 130 tractors.

We, you know, that just seems to be the number we seem to hit.

We have many guys, you know, I have one particular group that they belong to the truck club and the tractor club and they'll bring their trucks and they'll just leave the tractors on the trailer and they'll usually parked under the grandstands with them and, you know,

but they show up every year and we're happy to have

them.

Pretty convenient that they can do that.

We

try to help anybody that we can.

If you don't want to unload it, we will find you a place to park so that you can leave your tractor or implement whatever you happen to be hauling on the trailer if that's what you prefer to do.

A couple of years we had somebody that was bringing in a whole bunch of Sears stuff

He had a 35 or 40 foot trailer loaded down with everything that you could buy out of the Sears catalog for, for car, for tractors and plows and lawn and garden stuff.

He, you know, it's just amazing the stuff he had on that trailer.

I've learned over the years too, um, Bill, that the implements like the cultivators and those kinds of things, those are a lot more rare than the tractors.

Uh, at this point, yeah, a lot of those influence from way back.

are hard to find.

My son's actually working with a David Bradley line, and he's been running over Southwest Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, picking up, implements the amount to this piece of equipment.

It's

on a David Bradley.

On a David Bradley.

Okay, wow.

It's kind of like a oversized over a rototiller, what I call it, but but that's

It's got several implements to it, and he's been collecting them, so.

Everybody has their ones that they love.

I can't help but think of the show, Paul, without thinking of Danny Schaefer and how this all started.

Maybe you could talk about the history a little bit for

us.

Well, this all started with Danny Schaefer and Mark Welty, basically, and there was another gentleman over at Blogenville.

He just passed away recently that they all got together one

Sunday or Saturday afternoon and decided to have a little picnic.

And then the following, they actually had it at Loganville and the following year, then Danny and Mark had one out here and the following year, then it's just, they kept telling more, a few people and more and more people started showing up.

And then finally about the fourth or fifth year, uh,

The Dursts and the Maglins started asking, well, could we bring some tractors down there?

And, oh, you know, Danny, he was such a generous person.

Sure, go ahead.

And so they started lining up tractors down by the road and all of these trucks that were coming in.

And, you know, and it's just kind of exploded from there until the unfortunate passing of Danny.

And then we had moved to the fairgrounds because of the family didn't want to host it there any longer because Danny, he did so much for this club.

I mean,

The person doesn't realize it until you got to do it.

How many things he always did?

It amazed me, Paul, how they could get so many vehicles in Danny and Penny's yard because they found a way to fit them all in there, didn't they?

Well, that's kind of the deal with that one, though, that once you were in that main yard, you were there pretty much until Sunday.

You weren't going to get out.

So if you didn't tell Danny that you had to go early,

You weren't going to get out of there until Sunday because they had a packed in there that you there's no way out without till somebody in the front moves.

Nobody really

cared though.

I don't think nobody's ever never had anybody really stand there complaining and grumble about it.

I've never heard them anyway.

But you know and we still do that today.

There's some some places we park trucks that you know it's not possible probably to get out till sometime on Sunday.

But you know if you tell us.

When you come in, that you got to leave at a certain time, we will park you someplace so you can go.

So the question is, Bill, how do you guys put this on?

Because it's, it's free admission and how do you do it?

Well, we get money from our pie stand up there.

The ladies, the

ladies from the pie stand, they are such a tremendous help.

And they're the ones that fund the whole thing.

We got to give them credit.

Yes, we do.

They and they and they sell the pie through the the weekend.

They're

all the way through the weekend.

Uh-huh members are required to furnish two pies I don't know we Nancy's kind of into it and she's gone 12 14 pies whatever She's just make sure we got plenty of pies at the fair to sell and that's I've made basic income coming from the show Biggest challenge for Nancy

is keeping you out of them in the meantime probably

yeah, I

Just get up there fairgrounds.

I'm bacon

today.

So look for the pie stand any other food that will be available through the weekend.

The four eaters will be there and they've done an excellent job in recent years for us.

They have brats and burgers and and hot dogs and usually some beans and

pulled pork.

Sometimes they have pulled pork and you know they just have a tremendous menu.

I feel they do us an outstanding job.

They also be cooking breakfast on Saturday and Sunday morning out there.

They have usually pancakes and sausage on one morning, and then they were doing eggs and sausage on the

other.

One morning they had biscuits and gravy.

And what are the hours?

When can people start browsing?

When the sun comes up and when that sets.

Basically how it works.