It’s a throwback to the days of the local family farm, when people woke every day with the sun and the evolution of the tractor held promise for the future — less manual labor, more cropland and bigger harvests.

The machines that emerged to do the work are being celebrated this weekend at the 16th annual Eliot Antique Tractor & Engine Show at the Raitt Homestead Farm Museum.

In addition to the tractors on display, there are demonstrations of other machinery that helped make life on the farm easier in the early 1900s, including a Hildreth Bros. wood splitter, pumps and a shingle mill. There is also tractor pulling, tractor parades, “pedal pulls” for the kids and, for those looking for something beyond mechanization, a skillet toss.

All of the proceeds from the event go toward the preservation and restoration of the 33-acre farm.

For more information and a schedule of today’s events, go to www.eliotantiquetractorandengine.org.

 


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