<b>By CINDY LADAGE<br>
Illinois Correspondent</b> </p><p>

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The fourth annual Illini Farm Toy Show began on Friday night at the Park Inn and Illini Conference Center, with open room trading.</p><p>
Saturday included a farm toy consignment silent auction and a sanctioned Kiddie Tractor Pull.  Sunday, the show closed with a display and model contest.</p><p>
Ryan Rademaker, of the Champaign County Farm Bureau, said, “Ag leaders get together to staff the show. I entered the young ag leaders five years ago.</p><p>
“The Champaign, Vermillion and Decatur Farm Bureaus sponsor the toy show. Silent auction proceeds go into the general fund. Last year, we had a picnic for participants, and the rest of the proceeds go to county programs.”</p><p>
This year, there were 27 room and 15 floor vendors. Rademaker explained vendors traveled in from all over the Midwest.</p><p>
The Sanctioned Kiddie Tractor Pull, hosted by the Arcola Jaycees, was the main event to bring visitors into the show. The pull is one of the many projects the Jaycees do to promote sportsmanship, healthy competition and good family fun.</p><p>
“This is our ninth year for sanctioned pulls, but we have been doing pedal tractor-pulling since 1978,” said the Jaycees’ Rick Peters.
The Jaycees thought pedal tractors should look like those of the Illinois Tractor Pulling Assoc. (ITPA). Sponsors offset the cost of customizing. “We customized the pedals to look like the ITPA ones,” Peters said. “They are all geared the same, but there are different tires on the back.</p><p>
“To customize it, we cut the tractor in half, and then we rebuild the whole back area. We put flywheels on the pedals and weld the pedals on. They never tear up, and it makes it easier for the kids to pedal.”</p><p>
The Kubota sponsor is Tommy Neimeyer, who has a dealership in Humboldt, Ill. A Case MX255 pedal tractor for seven- and eight-year-olds was sponsored by King Brothers, Inc. – which happens to be Peters’ employer – but Peters added that Case New Holland out of Racine, Wis., paid for much of it.</p><p>
Cross Brothers Implements sponsored a John Deere 8530 mockup, which was driven by children ages 9-10. Children ages 11-12 competed in a homemade tractor that a gentleman from JERO Overhaul helped build.</p><p>
What happens to the older models? Peters said the Jaycees provide them to the sponsors, who display them on their showroom floors.</p><p>
Sanctioned pulls are for kids ages 4-12. Points are determined by how far they pull, as explained on the Jaycees’ website. While pulls like the one in Champaign are sanctioned, it is not a state-qualifying meet.</p><p>
This year’s state competition will be at Mattoon, Ill., at the Crossroads Mall on Aug. 9. This is the only Kiddie pulling event currently scheduled, in which a child can qualify for the national contest to be held in the Corn Palace in Mitchell, S.D. Peters said the Jaycees hope to schedule more state-qualifying meets.</p><p>
Among the vendors at the show, one man was relatively new to the selling side of the toy collecting hobby. Dave Copple of Hanna City, Ill., began his antique tractor hobby because his family used International Harvester equipment on their farm.</p><p>
“I’m a small farmer and I raise hogs and sell Golden Harvest seed corn and beans,” he said, adding he farms about 400 acres. “I still have my Dad’s H, my Grandpa’s H and an MTA. I use my father’s H to unload feed with. I also have a 706 and a 1066, 766 and 560 made in the 1970s.”</p><p>
Copple has between 200-300 toys, but decided last Thanksgiving to sell as well as collect. “In the past, I learned how both big and small vendors worked. I thought about what I, as a shopper, wanted,” he said, and researched what was for sale.</p><p>
“I thought I needed a niche. Rather than selling new toys, I would go with those from the Fifties, Sixties, Seventies and a few limited productions from the 1980s. I like the toy to be at 80 percent or more quality paint. As a beginning vendor, I can’t afford new in the box (NIB), so I buy newer mint toys.</p><p>
“I sold feed for a company for 30 years, so I know how to go about sales. I noticed that a lot of vendors remain quiet when someone comes into the room. Nobody strikes up a conversation.</p><p>
“Everybody has a story to tell – you just don’t know where it might lead.”</p><p>
Copple was just one of the vendors at this year’s show. Calvin Elder was also on hand with his customized toys, as were Melvin and Joyce Kuhlman, who provide quality scratch-built trucks.</p><p>
Scheduled each year the second weekend in January, 2009 will be the fifth annual show and the toy season will kick off again for next year. To learn more about this event, e-mail illinifarm toyshow@yahoo.com</p><p>
For scheduled pulling events, visit www.arcolajaycees.com and for questions, call Rick Peters at 217-246-0246.