Old Tractors To Highlight Straits Show
By Paul Gingras

Anew antique tractor parade and show is scheduled at the Straits of Mackinac September 12 through September 14, announced Ed Reavie of St. Ignace at the Mackinaw City Village Council meeting Thursday, March 20. Mr. Reavie received the village council's approval to stage vehicles in Mackinaw City before a parade across the Mackinac Bridge.

Antique tractors will leave Mackinaw City Friday, parade across the Mackinac Bridge, travel through St. Ignace, and arrive for showing at Kewadin Casino, adding a new event that weekend, which also features the Richard Crane Memorial Truck Show.

The tractor show will be called the Owosso Tractor Parts and Equipment Antique Tractor Parade and Show.

"I didn't know this community of tractor people existed three months ago," Mr. Reavie explained to the village council.

Recently, show organizer Robert Baumgras of Owosso Tractor Parts contacted the Mackinac Bridge Authority, which approved the parade. In turn, the Bridge Authority contacted Mr. Reavie of Nostalgia Productions, long-time St. Ignace auto show organizer, who did some research on the hobby.

"I couldn't believe it," he said; "the goings on, the events, the interest coast to coast on these tractors."

Mr. Baumgras has about 500 tractor buffs penciled in to attend already, and the parade is not until September.

"It is a first time deal. It could be a major, major event," Mr. Reavie said.

"I am really amazed how people are working together up there," Mr. Baumgras told The St. Ignace News, noting the village council's unanimous approval of the event.

The tractor parade and show comes at a good time for Mackinaw City, the council noted, two weekends after Labor Day, when tourism is slower.

The tractors will be 1960 and older and those driven across the bridge will have rubber wheels. Those metal wheels and cleats will be on trailers, Mr. Reavie said, in response to a question by Trustee James Alford.

Antique tractors "are beautiful. I mean these people really love their tractors, and guess what, [their owners] are all going to stay someplace. They're all going to go out to eat and buy gasoline," Mr. Reavie added.

The tractors will be over the bridge and through St. Ignace well before streets are closed for the truck show, he said.

When the number of participants is finalized, the village will establish where the tractors can be staged.

"It will be a logistical challenge, but we can handle it," said Village Manager Jeff Lawson.

"People love a parade. They'll come from everywhere to see this," Mr. Reavie said. He predicts a financial boon for Mackinaw City and St. Ignace.

Participants in the event will be members of tractor clubs, mostly in Michigan. Noting that some tractors are being brought from as far away as Arizona, Village President Ron Wallin said many owners of the antique farm vehicles are retired enthusiasts with a passion for tractors.

The tractor parade, combined with the truck show's "Parade of Lights" across the Mackinac Bridge, will make for a popular weekend, and the tractor enthusiasts may even fill any gaps cause by high diesel costs, which could reduce some trucker attendance this year.

"It must cost them a fortune to come here," Mr. Reavie said of the truckers, "but they do, because they have the bridge."