More than 650 antique tractors will head north across the Mackinac Bridge Friday afternoon, September 12, before spending the weekend in St. Ignace. The traveling exhibition of old farm equipment, say organizers, likely will be the largest tractor parade in the country, competing with a 275-unit tractor parade in California. If plans work out, it probably will become an annual event for the city.

Shortly after the tractors arrive in town, about 100 customized semis and other trucks will begin pulling into parking slots along downtown State Street and at Little Bear East Arena. With their colorful show lights, they will parade across the bridge Saturday at dusk.

Free to the public, weekend events begin Friday, September 12, and continue through Sunday, September 14.

The Antique Tractor Show is organized by Bob Baumgras of Owosso Tractor Parts. Ed Reavie of Nostalgia Productions in St. Ignace is the organizer of the 13th annual Richard Crane Memorial Big Rig Truck Show. Both men say the Mackinac Bridge as the reason the events are being held in St. Ignace.

"They don't care if they do anything else," said Mr. Baumgras of the tractor owners. The one thing they want to do is "cross the bridge."

One tractor owner, he said, has family members coming to St. Ignace from California, Texas, and Tennessee just to watch him make the five-mile journey over the bridge.

In fact, said Mr. Baumgras, the one comment he has heard from many of the registrants is, "I don't care if I'm number one or the last, I just want to go."

Antique Tractor Show

The idea of the tractor parade came to Mr. Baumgras while visiting the Mackinac Bridge Web site. He has been in the tractor business for 30 years and saw that other collectors crossed the bridge, inclluding the antique car parade each spring and 10 other events.

"I thought, why not antique tractors?" he said.

He set up a meeting with the Mackinac Bridge Authority, which approved his plan.

When Mr. Baumgras began planning the event, he estimated up to 300 tractors would participate, but he has now drawn 28 antique tractor clubs from around Michigan, with more than 650 registered for the event.

He is working with clubs, rather than individuals, as antique tractor clubs have insurance for members for parades. Most individual insurance policies, he said, usually only cover driving from the barn to the field.

To make sure no unregistered, uninsured tractor slips into the parade lineup, each club member signed up to participate is issued a medallion.

The medallions attach to the front of the tractor. The bridge authority will monitor tractors as they reach the bridge, stopping any that do not have the special emblem.

"The medallion on the tractor is the key to cross the bridge," he said.

The 20-mile parade route begins in Mackinaw City with 200 of the tractors traveling down Central Avenue east to Nicolet Street, then south to Mackinaw Crossings Drive to Huron Street. Then they will head north on Nicolet Street to I-75 entrance. A second parade with about 500 tractors will travel along Central Avenue to Farley Street, south to Pond Street, east to Askins Street, north to Cadillac Street, and head east to join the 200 tractors before crossing the bridge. Once across the bridge, the tractors will travel through downtown St. Ignace, and end at Kewadin Shores Casino on Mackinac Trail. From the start of the parade to the finish at the casino, Mr. Baumgras estimates that it will take more than two hours for all the tractors to reach Kewadin Shores Casino. The tractors are all built in 1962 or before.

To enter the parade, tractors are required to travel at least 10 miles per hour and drivers must be at least 18 years old. Bulldozers and steelwheeled tractors must be transported across the bridge on a truck.

The tractors will be on display at Kewadin Shores Casino on Mackinac Trail through the weekend.

Gary Pollock of Howell, a retired crash test engineer with General Motors, will drive the first antique tractor across the bridge. He will be driving a red 1940 Farmall H, which he purchased four years ago and restored.

"I was going to go, anyway," he said. "Getting to go first is kind of like the frosting on the cake."

The owner of four other antique tractors, Mr. Pollock chose this one since it is the same model of the first tractor he ever drove, when he was seven years old.

"You can never have enough tractors," he said.

A random drawing of participating clubs was held in August and the International Harvester Collectors of Michigan Chapter 11 was chosen to be the first club across the bridge. Club members named Mr. Pollock as the first driver, since he served as event chairman, organizing the club's participation in the parade.

Tractor enthusiast and former Mackinac Bridge ironworker Ed Socolovitch of Cheboygan will serve as parade Grand Marshal. Guest of Honor will be cable television agricultural journalist Max Armstrong.

Looking ahead, Mr. Baumgras said early feedback from tractor owners indicates this should be an annual event and he would like to move it up a week and hold it the first weekend after Labor Day.

Richard Crane Memorial

Big Rig Truck Show

This year, Mr. Reavie is estimating about 100 semis, tankers, and panel, garbage, logging, and antique trucks will participate in the truck show.

"They don't pre-register," he said, "so I never know. It's always like Christmas morning on who's going to be here. I've not been disappointed yet."

He does expect those attending will come from Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Illinois.

The St. Ignace show is part of a seven-show truck circuit, called the Truck-lite Trophy Series. Participants accumulate points at each show and earn cash prizes at the end of the year.

Some of the truck owners, he said, will crawl under their trucks and run a white glove down the drive shaft to make sure it is clean in preparation for judging.

About 98% of the trucks that come to St. Ignace are working trucks, with many miles on them. Unlike cars, said Mr. Reavie, they have 18 wheels to polish.

"I look at them every year," said Mr. Reavie, "and I see these big, magnificent rigs, the Kenmores and Peterbilts and you look and see they've got a million-plus miles on them. Then you look at that grill surround, there's not a bug, not a chip. Looks like they just rolled off the assembly line. I don't know how they do it. It's unbelievable, and they are hauling cattle and gravel, whatever it takes to keep the bills paid."

One of Mr. Reavie's favorite trucks, which he hopes to see this year, is owned by M.C. Van Kampen Trucking of Grand Rapids. The truck, called "Show Time," has teak flooring, a shower with goldplated fixtures, and marble accents.

Saturday evening, residents and visitors will line the length of State Street in St. Ignace from near the airport through downtown, as the trucks will show off their decorative lights in the Parade of Lights, which begins around 8 p.m. The big rigs first travel south across the Mackinac Bridge to Mackinaw City. They exit onto M-108, traveling to M-23 and then along Huron Street to Central Avenue, then onto Nicolet Street and then back to I-75. Returning to St. Ignace, the trucks head north on I-75, they will take the St. Ignace exit near Evergreen Shores and travel south on State Street, heading back to their parking sites.

Also during the weekend, model trucks will be on display and children's pedal cars will be exhibited inside Little Bear East Arena.

A car show that includes hot rods, new vehicles, and custom cars, sponsored by Mackinac Ford Sales of St. Ignace, will take place at Little Bear East. A swap meet also will be on the grounds.

Coinciding with weekend events is a customer appreciation day hosted by one of the show's sponsors, Kewadin Shores Casino. The free outdoor barbecue is planned for 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. and includes cash drawings.