Antique tractors have long been a staple of the Rural Heritage Fair in Ridgefield. This year’s event will again feature a wide variety of them.
Antique tractors have long been a staple of the Rural Heritage Fair in Ridgefield. This year’s event will again feature a wide variety of them.
Alan Schurman and his Iron Ranch will play host to the Fort Vancouver Antique Equipment Association’s 23rd Annual Rural Heritage Fair this weekend.
The Rural Heritage Fair celebrates rural living and the history of agriculture, logging and industrial mechanization in Clark County, dating back to the late 1800s.
Per usual, attendees can expect to see a blacksmith demonstration, where modern metal art will be created from 1800s material. A steam boiler will also be at the scene. It will be used to power an 1800s logging donkey, steam powered drag saw and a steam engine that once powered a sawmill out of Baker City, Oregon, in the 1800s.
There will be a collection of historic single cylinder engines at the fair powering ice cream churns, corn grinders, water pumps, washing machines and other non-electric machines, along with steam and classic gasoline powered tractors.
Members of the Fort Vancouver Equipment Association will also bring a few toys, including a large collection of steam and gas powered farm tractors, single cylinder engines, antique garden tractors and cars, classic cars, farm machinery, fire engines, industrial equipment and more.
The Pioneer Village will be back again this year, featuring a candy scramble and a tractor pull. Children can also learn to split cedar shakes, churn butter, grind corn, make quilts, wash clothes and more.
Schurman will have his vast antique collection on display. Over the last 60 years, he has collected thousands of toys, bicycles, cars, engines, tractors, signs, motor scooters, classic bicycles, period kitchen/ household items, industrial equipment and more.
Schurman’s collection is so vast, in fact, that he has been featured on History Channel’s “American Pickers,” where a crew travels to collectors across the United States looking for antiques and treasures that they can buy. Attendees will have the opportunity to tour the ranch and can buy old tractor parts, tools, antiques, farming memorabilia and other items at a swap meet.
