Western Illinois Threshers Bee and Antique Show begins Friday near Hamilton

HAMILTON, Ill. — The 57th annual Western Illinois Threshers Bee and Antique Show will begin on Friday, Aug. 2, near Hamilton and offers three days of demonstrations and activities.

Throughout each day, demonstrations and exhibits are planned. Steam engines are used to power threshing machines and the large and small sawmills. A large collection of rail handcars is exhibited, and rail motor car rides are available on the track around the grounds.

This year’s show highlights the lesser-known Graham Bradley tractor line and Sears engines.

Parades of antique cars, trucks, tractors and steam engines brought by exhibitors will run through the grandstand at 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

A full dinner is offered each day at 6 p.m. for $10. Friday night is a ribeye steak, potato salad and baked beans. Saturday features smoked pork chops, au gratin potatoes and green beans. Food vendors will be set up on the grounds during the day offering a variety of foods.

An antique tractor pull in the grandstand on Friday will be followed with music by Bocephus Wayne on the stage at approximately 8 p.m. Hear music by Hearsay Band during and after the pork chop supper on Saturday. The quilt auction is at 8 p.m. Saturday, followed by more music.

Friday’s schedule starts with tractor games at 9 a.m. in the grandstand. A kids’ pedal tractor pull is planned at 3 p.m. and an antique tractor pull at 6 p.m. in the grandstand.

Saturday begins with a pancake breakfast from 7 to 10 a.m. Pony pulling starts at 8 a.m. at the grandstand, and an antique tractor pull starts at 10 a.m. Tractor games begin at noon in the grandstand, and horse plowing is at 1 p.m. in the field. The antique tractor and car parade begins at 3 p.m.

Sunday begins with a pancake breakfast at 7 a.m. and worship in the country church at 8:30 a.m. Another antique tractor pull is at 9:30 a.m., and horse plowing is at 1 p.m. Fun and games for kids at the grandstand start at 1:30 p.m. before the second antique tractor and car parade at 3 p.m.

Bingo will be offered throughout the weekend in the large shelter house.

The raffle tractor is an Allis Chalmers WD. Winners of the antique tractor, handmade quilt, pedal tractor and other prizes will be announced after Sunday’s parade. The 50th show history book, dedicated to Fred Buckert, outlines the origin and growth of the Western Illinois Threshers. It will be available at the show.

Work continues on the 1850s circa Bolton Barn that is being rebuilt on the grounds. The barn from rural Nauvoo was disassembled by Bolton family descendants and other volunteers.

See sheep shearing, rock crushing, corn shelling and corn meal grinding, pony-powered threshing, small gas engines, quilting and rug weaving. The growing village on the 80-acre grounds has two log cabins, a church, one-room school, a print shop, blacksmith and post office. There is an antique gas station, two large museum buildings, and two renovated TP&W depots.

Many of the buildings have histories of their own, being moved onto the grounds from the region. A flea market fills the northeast end of the grounds during the show.

Fun for kids includes a petting zoo, hands-on corn shelling, playground at the schoolyard, the pedal pull on Friday afternoon and old-time games at the grandstand on Sunday.

Camping hook-ups of 20 and 30 amps are available. Golf carts/ATVs are not rented on the grounds but are allowed. Owners must register their vehicles and pay a $20 fee at the headquarters building upon arrival at the show.

A $5 commemorative button allows admission for all three days to people 12 years and older. Children under 12 are admitted free. Buttons are on sale at Harnetiaux Farm Store just east of Hamilton and will be sold at the gate during the show.

To find the Western Illinois Threshers Show, turn north at the signs in Hamilton at North 19th and continue on the blacktop two miles north. Parking is free.

For more information about this summer’s event, contact president Ed Hartweg by calling 319-795-2982 or visit www.westernillinoisthreshers.org.