The dirt was flying Friday afternoon as enthusiasts attending an historical construction equipment
exposition got to see nearly 100-year-old earth movers prove they still had what it took to get the job
done.
As Donna Bannister, of Sparta, Ill., waited for a parade of equipment to begin, she pointed out the event
was for "boys and their toys."
But the boys were willing to travel some distance to bring their own construction equipment to – and view
other’s machines at – the 24th annual International Convention and Old Equipment Exposition.
Hosted by the Historical Construction Equipment Association, the expo is being held this weekend at the
National Construction Equipment Museum on Liberty Hi Road west of Bowling Green.
A map at the entrance gate has pins marking where visitors call home: Eau Claire, Wis.; Key West, Fla.;
Colorado Springs, Colo.; plus many from Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut and even Maine and Canada.
Exhaust shot into the air as the land movers – all in working order – rumbled through a parade which will
be repeated today at 1 p.m.
Bannister and her husband, C.O., own a heavy equipment business in Sparta, and called the conventions
"a fun weekend kind of thing."
But it was a look, don’t buy weekend for the couple. "We’ve got enough stuff at home," Donna
Bannister pointed out.
The association’s directive is to preserve the history of the construction equipment that helped shape
the world.
Based in Bowling Green, the not-for-profit continues to document for public education the history of the
construction, dredging and surface mining equipment industries.
The HCEA convention rotates among various sites, and next year will be in Richmond, R.I.
That will shorten the drive for Bob Hunter, who traveled to Bowling Green from Hillsdale, N.Y., for the
convention.
"I try to get to all of them," he said.
International Harvester is a featured manufacturing this weekend, and Hunter said he had quite a bit of
I-H equipment of his own. "It’s amazing to see stuff here" that might be one of only a dozen
in the world, he said.
Setting upon the museum’s acreage are John Deere, Marion, Oliver and McCormick-Deering equipment, plus
much more. A Toledo excavating company brought to the show a 1953 Jeep two-door short-bed truck. Across
the field was a 1927 "Galion Roller" from the Galion (Ohio) Iron Works and Manufacturing
Company.
Mike Androvich, of Grand Rapids, was showing his 1936 McCormick-Deering, and there were plenty more
cranes, graders and tractors spread across 30 acres.
The expo continues today to 5 p.m., and Sunday 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Lynn Burdick, of Endicott, NY., moves dirt with his 1939 Bay City Shovels Inc. digger at old equipment
convention on Liberty Hi road. 9/18/09 (Photo: J.D. Pooley/Sentinel-Tribune)
