Smucker Joins With the Rough and Tumble Engineers Historical Association for Their 61st Annual Threshermen’s Reunion

These days, many people are absorbed with the hypnotizing electronic toys that technology turns out. But we still have a lot of fascination with the mechanical toys of yesteryear.

So there is the Railroad Museum in Strasburg. A Fire Museum in Harrisburg. An Antique Auto Museum in Hershey. All fine and interesting displays.

But none of them have all the moving parts and the opportunities for participation that this reunion does. Which makes sense. Even for those who live in a subdivision, agriculture flows in our blood. From trains to tractors, there is something truly all-American about the equipment operating here.

Keeping tradition alive is a great thing. Keeping this diversity of equipment in running order is even more impressive. Expensive appliances and thingamajigs made today break too quickly, but this older equipment lasts, and does the job it was meant to do, without requiring an instruction manual as thick as the phone book.

Appreciate the respect for heritage and the pride in preservation that is in plain sight. Reassuring that even as the world changes at warp speed, agriculture is here to stay. Even if computers and combines now co-exist.

This event is part history, part entertainment, and pure enjoyment. Steam power, sawmilling, the sounds of country, this is salt of the earth stuff.

There are a lot of things to showcase. There is plenty of display of competitive spirit too. And there is a chance to learn something, which I intend to do. This is a terrific gathering. Thank you for inviting me to be part of it.