Photo by Brett Dunlap Kenneth Ball, of Waterford, brought an International 1066 High Crop tractor to show at the 20th annual Pioneer Antique Power Association show at Howes Grove Park in Belpre over the weekend.

BELPRE — Antique engines and tractors took center stage over the weekend during the 20th annual Pioneer Antique Power Association show at Howes Grove Park in Belpre.

The show, which ran Saturday and Sunday, featured 47 full-sized tractors on Saturday as well as 91 vintage engines and 12 garden tractors.

“We have been doing this for 20 years and we are reliving the heritage of old agriculture and what got us all started in this,” said Pat Tornes, president of the Pioneer Antique Power Association of Belpre. “The crowds were really good (Saturday), but have dropped off a bit (Sunday).”

The show in Belpre attracted many exhibitors showing vintage engines and tractors that ran on everything from steam to gasoline.

“Back when these tractors were invented it was a big improvement for agriculture, because farmers could do so much more tillage than they could with the horses,” Tornes said. “A lot of people like to come back and look at the tractors and say, ‘We owned one like that when I was a kid. I grew up on one.’

Photo by Brett Dunlap Andy Sigman, of Coolville, looks over a 1948 Oliver 60 tractor Sunday during the 20th annual Pioneer Antique Power Association show at Howes Grove Park in Belpre.

“People come back and it brings back a lot of memories for them.”

Many of the tractors featured were part of the innovations that grew the agriculture business for many farmers

“These are what got the agriculture business started off big,” Tornes said. “It got bigger as they developed those tractors and things really improved for the farmers.”

The history of the machines was the biggest draw for people to come out and see them.

“We want people to remember the heritage and what got us started,” Tornes said.

Photo by Brett Dunlap The 20th annual Pioneer Antique Power Association show at Howes Grove Park in Belpre, which ran Saturday and Sunday, featured 47 full-sized tractors as well as 91 vintage engines and 12 garden tractors.

This year’s show featured a number of Allis Chalmer tractors, organizers said.

Kenneth Ball, of Waterford, brought an International 1066 High Crop tractor to show at the event. It came out of southern Louisiana and was primarily used in sugar cane fields.

People throughout the show were asking him about the history of his tractor and what it is used for.

“There weren’t very many of them built,” Ball said. “We brought it up here to show something different.”

The Pioneer Antique Power Association show is one of the best for people interested in tractors and engines, he said.

Photo by Brett Dunlap A 1959 John Deere 530 tractor was one of the tractors on display over the weekend at the 20th annual Pioneer Antique Power Association show at Howes Grove Park in Belpre.

“This is a good show,” Ball said. “Out of all of the tractor shows we go to, this is one of the best in terms of turnout and people who want to talk.

“We always have a lot of people here on Saturdays. If it hadn’t rained (Sunday) we probably would of had a lot more people here.”

Ball has 24 tractors at home that he has restored. He is a regular at many area tractor shows, including Beverly on the Fourth of July and Caldwell in September. He helps sponsor a tractor ride in September where a group of people on tractors will travel to somewhere in the area to have lunch. The group goes somewhere different every year.

Many people have their favorite types of tractors. For many, it is what they grew up with themselves, either John Deere or International or another make of tractor.

Ball said riding around on a tractor gives someone a different perspective even on a route they may travel regularly in a car.

“You can go the same route every day in a car, but if you drive that route on a tractor you will see things you never seen before because you are going so much slower,” he said. “It gives you time to look around and it draws a lot of attention.”

Andy Sigman, of Coolville, said he came out to see the tractors, having a 1950 Farmall H tractor his family still uses on their own farm.

“I just like looking at this stuff,” he said. “These older tractors tend to outlive the newer stuff.”

Some of the tractors at the show were over 60 to 70 years old.

“Many of them, you can start them right up,” Sigman said.

He knows a man who was able to buy an old tractor out of a junkyard and with some minor repairs got it running again.

“These things last forever,” Sigman said. “They will still be around in 50 years or so.

“They go on and on.”

Many of the tractors in the show, built in America, were built to last. Sigman said his family got a tractor 15 years ago and it is on its third or fourth clutch already.

“It doesn’t last compared to these,” he said of the tractors on display at the show. “Even though they are very basic pieces of equipment, they have some engineering that definitely lasts.”

At a time when people buy things, use them, they break and are immediately replaced, Sigman said it is something when a piece of equipment can last a long time.

“I think we get away from quality too much anymore,” he said. “This stuff lasts forever and it shows American engineering and craftsmanship.”

The Pioneer Antique Power Association show in Belpre is always the weekend after Memorial Day.