Tired Iron show to begin on Friday

Spring show educational experience

Photo by Randy Moll Glenn Smith, club member, waves as he drives an antique Farmall tractor past spectators at the 2015 spring show of the Tired Iron of the Ozarks in Gentry. Smith added an extra seat and additional controls to teach children how to drive an old tractor and to give tractor rides.
Photo by Randy Moll Glenn Smith, club member, waves as he drives an antique Farmall tractor past spectators at the 2015 spring show of the Tired Iron of the Ozarks in Gentry. Smith added an extra seat and additional controls to teach children how to drive an old tractor and to give tractor rides.

GENTRY -- It's time once again to crank up those old engines and get those old tractors running. The 24th annual spring show of the Tired Iron of the Ozarks begins on Friday and runs through Sunday. Times are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday.

A wide variety of antique engines will be running and on display -- many attached to old implements to show their uses in early- to mid- 20th century farm life -- for visitors to see.

The featured tractor in this year's spring crank-up will be the John Deere, and club members have plenty of them to show off to visitors at the annual show. They, along with other makes and models, will be lined up for visitors to see and will be driven past spectators at noon each day in the Parade of Power. Other demonstrations with farm implements of years gone by are also a regular at the club's showgrounds each spring and fall.

A special auction of farm-related items will be held at 6 p.m. on Friday, April 15, at the showgrounds. The event promises to give antique collectors and farming enthusiasts the opportunity to purchase a piece or two of farming history as their own. An engine raffle is also on the event's bill for the weekend.

Also featured at the show will be Saturday exhibitions in the blacksmith shop by the Blacksmiths of Arkansas and demonstrations by the Bella Vista Woodcarvers Club.

Old saw mills will fire up and demonstrate the process of cutting logs down to boards for the construction of farm buildings, siding, fences and more.

Other attractions at the show will include tractor games, rope making, a log cabin with furnishings, photo opportunities in an old two-seater outhouse, a collection of antique home furnishings (including demonstrations of how some of the items were used).

A Sunday morning prayer service will be held inside the clubhouse at 9.

A concession stand is available, serving breakfast and lunch each day, as well as other refreshments throughout the day.

As always, the shows are free to the public, and parking is free, too. The showgrounds are located at 13344 Taylor Orchard Road in rural Gentry. From Gentry, visitors may turn west on SWEPCO Road from Pioneer Lane and follow the signs. From Siloam Springs, travel north on Dawn Hill Road and take Taylor Orchard Road around the north side of City Lake and up the hill to the showgrounds.

More information on the show and the club is available on the club's website: www.tiredironoftheozarks.org. Tired Iron of the Ozarks meets at 7 p.m. on the third Tuesday of the month at the club's showgrounds.

General News on 04/13/2016