Nekoosa Giant Pumpkin Fest

 

There are crafts, flea market, food galore, kids activities, carnival, giant pumpkin contest, and of course, a giant pumpkin drop.

 

There is a tractor show on Saturday, and a car, truck, and motorcycle show on Sunday.

 

The shows are coordinated by our very own forum member Macvette. I cannot imagine the hours he and the missus must put in to pull it all off, along with quite a crew of dedicated people.  He took over a few years ago, and is trying to build the shows back up. Apparently, it used to be a  big show, but some politics and infighting made some people mad or something, Macvette can chime in on that if he wants.

 

At any rate, I took load #1 down on Friday. The WD with 36" buzz saw and snap coupler carryall.

 

 

 

They have generators and floodlights throughout the park on Friday and Saturday nights, so I felt O.K. with leaving it overnight. Took the negative battery cable with me though, as it doesn't have a key switch.

 

Macvette set me up next to an old man who was sitting in a lawn chair by himself in the middle of the park next to an enclosed trailer. I just assumed he was a flea market guy, until he flopped the door down and out rolled this! 

 

 

 

It is a gorgeous 5/8 scale McCormick 10-20. It has a four cylinder out of a semi trailer reefer, and a rear end out of a Cub Cadet. Not too sure on the tranny, but he made everything else, even the radiator. He said he parked a full size one outside his shop, measured a part, multiplied by .625, and made the part. Over and over and over. Until he had a mini tractor.

 

Here is a short video

 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5zfrtFK8wM

 

 

The only thing original size is the handles to the right of the steering wheel for the governor. The belt pulley actually works, I told him he needs to get going on a 5/8 threshing machine.

 

He actually sleeps with it. Beds on the side of the trailer fold down. When the show was over, we hooked the tractor to the winch mounted in the front of the trailer, and used the wireless remote to pull it right in. Now THERE is a guy set up for going to shows!

 

Load #2 was Saturday morning. Loaded up in pouring rain. Didn't want to mess with any garden tractors, so junior and I loaded up the WC and went. Brought along a couple canopies as it was supposed to rain all day. It did let up several times, and the sun came out for about 20 minutes.

 

 

 

 

Lots of contestants for the various weigh in contests.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were about 20 tractors or so, and that's if you count the 8 or 9 racing lawnmowers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here he is, the man, the myth, the legend......its macvette!...on the right, and that's wiplowboy on the left.

 

 

 

 

Junior wanted to borrow my phone and take some pictures. I will spare you the other 37 pictures he took in the 45 seconds he had the phone and just show you one of them.

 

 

 

 

A guy that works in the body shop where I work painted the Deutz's and that's his wifes Oliver. They are painted perfect. I knew the WC wouldn't win any awards for paint compared to that, but I did manage to bring home a little gold plated plastic for having the "Oldest working tractor"

 

 

 

 

The nice thing about this show is there is quite a bit to do. When junior started getting squirmy, we went and watched them weigh some huge stuff.

 

Biggest squash was 1124 pounds.

 

 

 

 

Then we'd go back and talk tractors some more. People really liked to chat about that saw rig, apparently most everyone had worked with one at one time or another.

 

Biggest pumpkin was 1550 pounds, I think.

 

 

 

Back to the tractors. Then take a break to go paint a pumpkin. Then tractors. Then go get an elephant ear. Then tractors. Then go play a carnival game. ($5 to win an oversize inflatable hammer? Really?)

 

This was pretty cool.

 

 

 

 

 

And then, to cap the day off, just for fun, lets take a 700 pound pumpkin to the top of a 90 foot crane and drop it just to see what happens. A co worker takes a crane truck down every year for this.

 

 

 

 

You know I got video of this sweet action:

 

 

 

After the pumpkin is gently returned to Earth, the kids all scramble to get the seeds. Junior came back with a handful, so we have something else to grow at grandpas next summer.

 

Unfortunately, the day had to come to an end. We loaded up the WC and headed home. After being outside and on the move all day, junior passed out pretty quick once we hit the road. So, I hauled his carcass in the house and tossed him into bed, then went back down and loaded up the WD, gotta make room for the car show on Sunday.

 

 

 

I guess there was upwards of 200 vehicles on Sunday, I wasn't able to make it. It was a much nicer day. A lady in the office at work brought home a trophy for her Camaro.

 

So thank you very much Macvette, for all the hard work you do. I hope to bring all my tractors next year. And maybe we can convince some more members from around Central WI to come next year and make the tractor show even bigger and better! (Note there wasn't a single John Deere this year.)

 

 

 

Thanks for looking!