Ag Heritage Park Announces
2014 Spring Crank Up! April 19
Ag Heritage Park is “cranking up” for the annual Spring Crank
Up! Tractor Show, scheduled for Saturday, April 19, 2014, at Ag Heritage Park, 103
S. Main, Alta Vista. The tractors will be on display from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.,
with a “Parade of Power” cruise through downtown scheduled at 9:30 a.m. There
is no pre-registration required, and no registration fee for the day.
Ag Heritage Park is expecting a good number of tractors,
including a 1938 Minneapolis-Moline UDLX Comfortractor. Tagged “The Gentleman’s Tractor,” the
Minneapolis-Moline company streamlined a cab and set of fenders on an existing
tractor chassis, offering both the utility of a tractor and the comfort of an
automobile in one vehicle. The enclosed tractor was ahead of its time, suitable
as a workhorse going up to 45 mph by day and for an evening on the town at
night. In early 1938, Minneapolis-Moline
produced 25 of the UDLX (short for Model & Deluxe) models, with an optional
cab. Later in the year, 125 more were equipped with cabs as standard equipment.
While the tractor was too pricey for most farmers, it was also introduced in
the industrial world equipped with snow plows, and it is recorded that some
rural mail carriers even found them useful. This Comfortractor is owned by
Stamm Tractors, and will be shown by the Clint Stamm Family, of Washington,
Kansas.
The schedule for the day, besides the tractor show, includes
Ron Schultz and Friends Jamming, beginning at 11:00 a.m, featuring bluegrass
and gospel music. Also scheduled is a barn quilt block “how-to” program,
sponsored by the Kansas Flint Hills Quilt Trail, scheduled for 2:00 p.m. Those attending the program will gain
information from choosing patterns, sizes, location, to priming, painting, and
hanging your own barn block. The Ag Heritage Park main museum building sports
two barn quilt blocks painted by artist Susan Kesl.
Lunch, snacks and drinks will be available all day on the
grounds. The Alta Vista C of C will
sponsor a biscuit and gravy breakfast downtown from 7 - 10 a.m., as well as the
annual Easter Egg Hunt, scheduled for 1:00 p.m. in the city park. Local
businesses will be open, including several collectible and antique shops, and
cafés.
Ag Heritage Park will be open tractor show day from 8:00
a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Besides viewing the tractors in the show, visitors may “step
back in time” and tour the 40 tractors on display in the park, ranging in age
from 1918 to 1960. These tractors were collected by Ag Heritage Park Founder,
Everett Zimmerman, and put on public display back in 1999. The park features a
large display of horse drawn equipment, as well as other farm equipment dated
from the 1800’s through the mid-1960’s. Also on the grounds are 1885 era one
room school house, two room farm house, and a log cabin, along with other farm
outbuildings. Two museum buildings include a complete display of household
items, miscellaneous farm memorabilia and machinery. Ag Heritage Park displays
offer interest for young and old, and any age group. Admission to the park is a
donation for park upkeep and maintenance.
For more information concerning the Spring Crank Up! Tractor
Show on Saturday, April 19
th, or to schedule individual visits or
bus tours to Ag Heritage Park on future dates, please call Kirby Zimmerman,
620-767-2714, Hazel Zimmerman, 785-482-3865, or Connie Larson, 785-532-8393.
Visit
www.AgHeritagePark.com for
updates.
