SANDWICH, Ill. — Some spectators visit the annual Sandwich Early Days Engine Club in June for the fun and food it offers; others to watch the stationary vintage gasoline engines chug/chugging,; and still others do it to spot a consignment at the antiques auction that they can’t live without.

The club’s 44th annual two-day expo will be open to the public from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. on June 27- 28. The event takes place at the DeKalb County Fairgrounds on the west side of Sandwich on Route 34. A variety of activities is on the agenda for both days.

Antique farm tractor aficionados may bring their pride and joy to drive in the club’s third annual tractor ride on a 22-plus-mile route north and west of Sandwich. Participants pay $15 to go on the Sunday drive.

“The first year of the ride we went north and east of Sandwich, and last year we went south of Sandwich,” noted club member and expo official Scott Larsen of Marseilles, Ill. “We leave about 8:30 a.m., stop for a little break about 10:30 a.m., then get back to the fairgrounds about noon.

“Last year we had about 35 tractors on the ride. Drivers must have an antique tractor to participate. Most everybody has one from the 1950s-1960s or thereabouts.”

The consignment auction gets under way that Saturday morning. Five tractors are among the consignments already committed to the auction, but the sponsors are looking for more.

“Five tractors is a good number and we’re hoping for a big crowd. I’m hoping to get a few more consignments in so I can put something else with the tractors, but that’s fine if I don’t,” Larsen said. “We have a good time. Last year we auctioned off a tractor for more than $10,000. One year we had a gas engine that brought more than $5,000.

“There’s been some pretty interesting stuff at these auctions through the years.”

Proud owners of antique trucks are invited to display their vehicles in the expo. Also, club members are working at establishing an arts and crafts market for visitors to enjoy.

This year’s show features vintage Ford tractor and Independent Harvester gasoline engines made in Plano, Ill., in about the 1920s. Many stationary engines are displayed at the expo by collectors. Some engines operate water pumps, others grind corn kernels for chicken feed and still others run the clothes dasher on old-fashioned washing machines.

“We’ve always had a lot of engines in the expo,” Larsen said. “We started out as just an engine show in the 1970s, and then with tractors in about the late 1980s. We’ve always been an engine club and we’re called an engine club.”

Consignments for the auction will be accepted on June 25 from 4-8 p.m., and on June 26 from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. Either call beforehand or just bring consignments on those two days, Larsen said. Those who contact him prior to June 1 will have their consignments listed along with the tractors. “We accept antiques and antique farm equipment, rack items and tools,” he said. “We don’t want yard sale items. We’re looking for stuff people want to buy, not yard sale leftovers.”

Daily attendance averages 600-700 visitors, for a total of 1,500 for the two-day expo. In past years, Saturdays seemed to draw the most attendance. The trend changed when the largest crowd visited on Sunday in 2014. “Attendance depends on the weather,” Larsen said. “If it’s nice weather we always have a better crowd than if it is way too hot or raining, or something.”

Contacts for the expo are Larsen, at 815-295-7355, or Nancy Quantock at 815-695-1472.