The Tuscarawas Valley Pioneer Power Association will be showcasing antique and steam-powered farm equipment during their 56th-annual Dover Steam Show at the Tuscarawas County Fairgrounds. (Tuscarawas Valley Pioneer Power Association)  

DOVER (Tusco TV) - Tuscarawas Valley Pioneer Power Association members are inviting the community to join them for a three-day celebration of the tools and techniques that revolutionized agriculture.

The group is bringing their 56th-annual Dover Steam Show to the Tuscarawas County Fairgrounds this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday featuring antique and steam-powered farm equipment. Association President Emily Weldon says there will be pulling competitions throughout the weekend including a garden tractor pull Friday evening and a farm tractor pull Saturday afternoon, along with equipment demonstrations throughout the weekend.

"It is an antique power show, which is all kinds of old farm equipment from steam engines all the way up to modern tractors. They will have an operating sawmill, shingle mill. They will threshing grain and bailing with a stationary baler," she says. 

Other highlights of the event include a children’s pedal tractor pull and an appearance by the Thunder Buggy jet-powered Amish buggy, both on Saturday at 1pm. Weldon says they will also have live music on Saturday and an equipment parade to close out the event Sunday afternoon.

"It will be everything that is mobile. They will start out with the steam engines, and it’ll be all the tractors, garden tractors. If there’s any old trucks or cars here, they are welcome to come through the parade also. We have a boy scout troop that comes in and helps park cars, and they always lead off the parade as a thank you for all their hard work that they do for us," she says.

Weldon says the goal is to preserve and promote these machines and share their value with the next generation.

"Just to educate the people that just because it’s old doesn’t mean it can’t work. Plus, a lot of the children nowadays have no idea what it was like to be on the farm or to be on the farm back then, and our goal is to keep that love and that education alive," she says.

Gates open at 8 am on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Admission is $5 for adults and free for children 12 and under. For more information about the event, visit http://www.doversteamshow.com.

TUSCO TV