Setting up a tractor show/ride

Edited by DanC911 - 11 Dec 2018 at 8:18am

I never been an tractor ride. I have been on a lot of motorcycle rides, although I never organized one. One thing I've noticed, is police cars at major intersections. This might be something to check into if you haven't already. It might not be a problem with tractors, but motorcycle rides always get broken up, and riders get lost from the pack. Make sure someone stays in the back that knows the route to avoid this happening.

We completed our 8th annual drive this past summer. We do about 40 or so miles, have morning coffee and rolls, a noon snack on the road and a little better meal when we return so people can visit afterward. We have everyone sign a liability release at start, may not stand up in a court but a start. We do the 10 mph thing because we don't want to eliminate slower tractors. This was a fund raiser for Relay For Life, so we included old or new tractors, all colors and sizes. Absolutely no riders unless an approved seat is provided. We have had great success but after 8 years we are discontinuing our ride. Where we are we do just about all country road and always let the sheriff know when and where we are going. Just some thoughts from our travels. I have also done several of the multi-day rides, they take
a lot more planning and cooperation.
edit; We required drivers to be licensed, we have 8 year olds driving tractors on some farms, don't need that on the highways

Edited by jiminnd - 11 Dec 2018 at 8:21pm

I belong to the Carlinville (Illinois) FFA Alumni Assoc.  We've assisted in planning, organizing, & putting on an annual FFA Tractor Ride for 4 years now.  It was a new idea our first year.  The 1st 3 years we started from an old strip mall parking lot on the edge of town, drove about 9 miles to a large, rural restaurant with plenty of parking, had lunch, a short program, and headed to back to our starting point.  After 3 years of that we did something different in 2018.  The Macoupin County Historical Society has 28 acres on the north edge of town.  Sister organization the Macoupin Agricultural Antique Assoc. had permission to use the historical society grounds for a staging area.  We also used a kitchen & pavilion on site to prepare lunch.  We had a good showing of FFA members on Friday to clean the kitchen & empty out the pavilion & set up tables & chairs.  On Saturday morning we gathered, organized, & had an about 12 mile tractor ride.  We stopped at a historical barn where a professional photographer was waiting to take pictures.  We ended up back at the historical society where lunch was waiting.  Again the FFA kids stepped up with the serving and clean up.  They even helped us put the machinery back in the pavilion when we were finished.  Our chief organizer is a retired insurance claims adjuster so everything we did had a safety focus.  There must be one designated "person in charge" and rules have to be published in advance.  We've started off every tractor drive with a safety meeting.  During every tractor drive we've had a designated "break" point where we serve water, check on everyone, & let the stragglers catch up.  We have escort vehicles with water & tools.  Sometimes we bring along a trailer for rescues.  There are always some tractors that don't make the whole route.  Organizers need to know who starts the tractor drive and check to make sure everyone's accounted for at the end.  We use a sign in sheet that requires name & cell phone number.  It may be necessary to stop the tractor drive more than once to let the stragglers catch up.  Pickup truck escort vehicles may have to go after the hot rods & slow them down or stop them.  Participants love to see the FFA kids handing out water during breaks.  We've had lots of compliments on how our FFA members participate.  The escort vehicles give kids without tractors a way to go on the ride.  We've had good participation from parents, grandparents, brothers & sisters, and boyfriends & girlfriends.  This year, since the kitchen & pavilion were free of charge and we prepared out own food, the profit from lunch also went to the FFA chapter.  Obviously it takes a lot of adults to put this event on.  Advance publicity is necessary.  We publish an ad in the local paper & post flyers with all important information.  

Our sheriff is a supporter and we've had sheriff's deputies help at major intersections.  We avoid highways.  This year our oldest tractor operators will be 88 and 89 years old.  Our youngest may be 10.  Since we want everyone who wants to to participate we keep the route manageable and the speed reasonable.  The older operators say 10 to 12 miles is enough.  

Only allow orange tractors!

Yes, make sure you have insurance. I know the insurance we use for our show is going up 25% for next year and we have not had any claims in 26 years