The 2022 Tri-Rivers Fair board invites folks to be inspired by presentations focused on
innovative programming and projects impacting Saline County residents during the Inspiration
and Innovation Showcase on Saturday, Aug. 6 in the Great Plains Manufacturing Convention
Center of the Tony’s Pizza Event Center.

The showcase is partnered with an outdoor event honoring the innovations of the past, with an antique tractor show in the south parking lot of Tony’s Pizza Event Center, featuring tractors owned by members of the Kansas Tractor Club. The Kansas Tractor Club will also provide tractor games during the outdoor show. Honoring history

“There are a lot of stories behind these tractors,” Michael Boldenow said. “A lot of those
tractors came around the war, when the armed forces needed more metal. The tractors have
cast iron frames, because the steel was used in the war, and once the war was over they went
back to steel tractors.”

Boldenow serves as the president of the Kansas Tractor Club. The club will be showcasing the
members’ tractors and sharing stories during the Antique Tractor Show from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
on Saturday, Aug. 6 in the south parking lot of the Tony’s Pizza Event Center.

“The club involves basically anyone who wants to join, and we usually don’t go more than an
hour away for shows,” Boldenow said. “It’s fun talking about the history on these tractors. You
get a lot of that from everybody who is a member.” According to Boldenow, the majority of tractors on display were built between the years of 1925 and 1955.

“We enjoy any tractor that shows up,” Boldenow said. “We expect 20 plus tractors from the
Kansas Tractor Club on Saturday.”

One tractor Boldenow expects to display is a Ford 8N.

“They made a lot of them,” Boldenow said. “Those are really unique tractors, because there are
not a whole lot that are exactly the same. They would change them throughout the year, so
they are all kind of different.”

The Kansas Tractor Club will also host tractor games at 12 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 6. The
games will include the chain game which involves a tractor driver dragging the chain back and
forth, dropping it in a box; a game with the goal of dropping washers in a bucket while driving;
a blind fold driving game, which involves a partner providing directions to a blind folded driver
and the teeter totter game, where a tractor drives up on a teeter totter and has to balance for
an extended and measured about of time.

The Kansas Tractor Club involves over 70 members, some who own antique tractors and some
who do not. The club offers a $1,000 scholarship to club members each year to support a
restoration project, and offers a $1,000 scholarship to a graduating senior each year. You can
find club information on Facebook.