Jim Macklen drives a 1946A John Deere tractor at a previous Crank It Up! event. This year’s antique tractor and engine show is Sept. 15 &16 at the Oswego County Fairgrounds in Sandy Creek.

SANDY CREEK – The Oswego County Fairgrounds in Sandy Creek will bustle with old tractors, engines, vendors and music at the Crank It Up! Antique Tractor and Engine Show Sept. 15 & 16, 2012. The event is a partnership between Crank It Up!, the Pulaski Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce, and the Oswego City-County Youth Bureau, with grant funds supported by the NYS Office of Children and Family Services.

According to Kathleen Fenlon, director of the Youth Bureau, “the Youth Bureau mini-grant program is providing funding for this popular local event so that they may expand by renting the Oswego County Fairgrounds, and have better parking and a camping area.”

Over the past four years the show has reshaped and grown as more and more people gather for “heritage show and tell.” Vintage tractors putt away and fly wheels turn old engines as they steadily huff and puff to pump water or run antique farm equipment.

As spectators watch, they appear to lost in their thoughts as they remember another place in time. The smells, sights, and sounds evoke forgotten memories and soon strangers become friends as they share their stories.

Grandparents are given a chance to show family members the equipment available when they were growing up. The show also allows people to see how advances in agriculture shaped the way work was completed and allowed for the newest innovations in farm equipment. “Whether the newest innovations were in 1930 or today, this is our heritage and people all have stories to tell,” said Fenlon.

This year the show promises to be another great family-friendly event. “In addition to the vintage equipment and vendors, we are excited to announce bluegrass and gospel bands in concert on Friday night. The FFA will be setting up displays, the radio controlled truck pullers will hold their grand nationals, and there will be a corn maze, a tractor pull using a transfer sled and as always, pedal pull for the children,” said Doreen Macklen from Crank It Up!

For more information, visit www.crankitup-antiquetractorshow.com.