By ANN ALLEN
Indiana Correspondent

ROCHESTER, Ind. — Antique tractor collectors are revving their engines in preparation for this year’s Fulton County Historical Power Show set for June 20-22 at the Fulton County Historical Society grounds four miles north of Rochester on US 31.

The featured tractor will be Massey-Harris, the product of a merger of Canadian companies Massey and Harris that in the 1950s became Massey-Ferguson. The latter company went out of business in the 1990s and exists today only as AGCO.

The three-day event, in conjunction with the Indiana Massey Collectors state summer show, will host exhibitors of antique tractors, lawn tractors, hit-n-miss engines, farm equipment and antique trucks. (Tractors should be 20 years old or older; trucks 30 years old.)

Admission is $5 for adults (age 12 and over) and free for children under the age of 11. The grounds are handicapped accessible with free parking and tram rides offered. Golf cart rental will be available on the grounds. Any exhibitor bringing a MH 44 tractor will receive a special gift.

New this year will be a horse pulling contest by the Northern Indiana Horse Pullers Assoc. at 7 p.m. Saturday, a raffle for a Massey-Harris 44 pedal tractor and other memorabilia, and a farm toy show.

Other events with the show include:
•Garden Tractor and Lawn Mower Exhibit - Fred Oden, Tiosa, is in charge of the garden tractor and lawn mower exhibit with as many as 700 mowers expected.
•MicroMini Pull - A National MicroMini Pullers Assoc.-sanctioned pull involving 1/16 scale tractors or trucks will begin at 10 a.m.
Saturday. Entry is $5 per vehicles. There will be six classes with $300 prize money to be awarded. For further information, see nmmtpapuller. tripod.com

A complete schedule and membership information are available from Melinda Clinger, 574-223-4436.
Sister companies featured

Rochester Metal Products, one of the largest manufacturers in Fulton County with 345 employees, will share the honors in center field with its sister, American Lawn Mower Company, a Shelbyville-based firm that continues to manufacture reel mowers, better known to many as “push mowers.”

Both are headed by Robert E. Kersey, whose grandfather launched the lawn mower company in Richmond years before establishing a foundry in a barn that once housed elephants for the Cole Brothers Circus in Rochester.

The foundry, now known as Rochester Metal Products Company,  produces grey and ductile iron castings for a global market.