By CINDY LADAGE
Illinois Correspondent

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The second full weekend of 2011 was the seventh annual Illini Farm Toy Show, hosted by the Champaign, Douglas and Vermilion counties’ Young Farmers and Young Ag Leaders.

“This was the first year the show was held at the Holiday Inn here in Champaign,” said Aaron Esry, one of the young Ag Leaders from St. Joseph. “I have been involved since the beginning in a support role.”

Esry farms with his father and is a self-employed electrician who collects John Deere and Precision toys, mostly 1/64-scale.

Heather Miller, Aaron Gingerich and Alan Chestnut, co-chairs for the event, were all on hand to greet visitors as they came in. The new location offered more room and facilities than the previous location at the Hanford Inn & Suites. When asked what was new at this year’s show, Miller replied, “We brought back the live auction.”

The show opened Jan. 7 with room trading and an open banquet room filled with farm toys. On Saturday, room trading and buying and selling in the banquet room continued, but there was also the aforementioned consignment auction. At noon on Saturday, there was also a sanctioned pedal pull that included young and adult competitors. The show closed on Jan. 9 with plans for next year’s already in mind.

One item that was attention-grabbing was a model belonging to Larry Lauritzen. Lauritzen, who hails from Ohio, Ill., had the turbine tractor model that had been produced for the I&I Tractor and Antique Engine Club by the International Harvester Club for the 59th anniversary of the tractor.

The toy model was just released last October, he said. The real tractor is on display at the I&I Historic Farm Museum and has been there since the 2002 Historic Farm Days/Red Power Roundup.

Bobbie Fox of Oquawka, Ill., had a unique toy in her room – a Cycling Daddy, with a colorful clown-like doll riding a bicycle. She started her hobby by collecting DeLaval items. Of all she had on hand, she said, “My favorite is the Cycling Daddy … That is my favorite, and the horse-drawn bell toy.”
Another collector, Del Harper from Lafayette, Ind., specializes in old trucks and some farm toys. He had an array of vintage toys.

“An Arcade truck and a couple Hill Climbers are the oldest trucks I have,” he explained. “One Hill Climber is a Clark and the other is a Scheible. They ran through the 1920s. They were some of the earliest toys that came on the market, and they were made in Ohio.”

Harper, a retired auctioneer, said, “I started doing shows and I try to buy private collections and buy old tractors like these Canadian toys I have on display. I buy them because they didn’t get shipped in like all these others.”
In part, it is a preservation effort: “I’ve just always loved toys and thought this would be fun to do.”

While many of the adults were focused on the farm tractors and trucks, kids had their eyes on the pedal tractor contest. In the 7- to 8-year-old group, first place was taken by Ethan Weidner, second by Brooke Niemann and third place went to Dalton Addis. There were several other heats in the sanctioned pulls, with adults competing alongside the kids.

Darrell Templeton and his wife, Marla, from Loda, Ill., watched the tractor pulls with interest. “This is our second time to the show,” Darrell said. “I furnish equipment for the Paxton tractor pull, and I love to watch the kids’ faces.”