Western Missouri Antique Tractor & Machinery Association

WMAT&MA NEWS JULY 2004 Fellow members, Wow! It is show time again. Rolls around fast, huh? Our meeting June 10th was one of the best in months. We had a very good attendance of many enthusiastic men. Two new members joined our group that day, Bob Kersey and David Francis, both from this area. We had some pretty lively discussions on many varied topics including cost of operation of Frontier Village such as newsletter mailing cost, insurance, high cost of grounds keeping including equipment maintenance and fuel. Fuel cost, of course is a big baby to worry about too. Raising dues was discussed some, but gate fees during the show was not mentioned. I think everyone really wants to leave the gate fee very low so our show can remain a family event. We have always been so blessed that money troubles were never really a big issue for us. Now, we must find solutions, like all businesses have to. It is wonderful to have West Central Agri Services giving us so much help with the trophies etc. What would we do without them? Bill also spoke at great length about changes we can make in the way we do business. The show must remain our main source of revenue, but the other events, like hot chocolate night and kids day is when we have fun. For those working hard at the show, it really is not a great deal of fun. We also discussed the office of president. Bill has been at the wheel for 5 years and needs a break and we need a young man that is not overly smart to step up to the plate. Bill will tell you the smart ones will not accept the position. MISTAKE: In the last newsletter I typed Duane Craig’s E mail address wrong. All changes to mailing addresses and E mail addresses plus inquiries about dues should be directed to Or call 660 679 4703. DONATIONS. Willow Creek Homes donated $200.00. Mr and Mrs Perry Self donated a new windmill. Allen West gave us two cases of tube gun Grease. Offers of fuel for our mowers might have saved our bacon. MFA Oil has offered to donate 300 gal of fuel among some other perks. Cole’s Schrock Oil from Garden City said they would be glad to give us 300 gal of fuel and furnish fuel after that initial gift at cost. Signs will be up on the grounds indicating these generous gifts and wonderful support. Please support these businesses any way you can. O’Reily Auto Parts gave $350 for a tent and the Aux girls gave us $1000 to help with the utilities. Bill Parrish donated and installed a new and very nice looking welcome center sign for our office. This was a double sided sign, but you must ask Bill P or Bill T why so. WORK DAY JUNE 12th. Great day! Nearly 20 guys showed and broke up into 5 or 6 teams and finished up several projects. Lots of work going on in the Museum, so many thanks goes to Fred Lewis and his helpers. Take a look, you will be impressed with the “new” Museum. He has the new printing press display completed also. We also have gotten the Smith shoe store equipment moved and set up. Don H and Delbert W managed to get the new windows in the Journal building installed. Looks great. Fred Lewis needs information about items in the Museum. He is putting signs on every item he can, but needs our help with details. SHOCKING NEWS One of the largest crews we’ve had showed up June 22nd to bind the wheat. We have learned a good lesson. Bill had set several dates for the event in case of bad weather. The rain kept coming but finialy one of the alternative dates was dry enough, so all went perfect. For the first time ever we did not shock it. We took the wheat right from the binder onto the trucks. It was wonderful to see so many first timers come out to learn and help. It was a sad time for us, however, because for 26 years Buzz has ran the binder and Al has pulled it, but because of health issues, neither one of these old friends could be there with us this time. JULY 8th MEETING was very well attended with 42 bodies present. Lots and lots of business this time. In order to address previously discussed cost of postage, the board chose to raise the annual dues to $25.00 affective for the 2005 calender year. No one could remember how long the dues had been $15, but it was most surely in the 80's. Life membership will remain at $150.00. Also, Duane was instructed to delete from the rolls all members unpaid for 2004. Check your mailing label or contact Duane if you are concerned. We learned there will be a petting Zoo during the show. Something else for the kiddies! Bill reported that our F-12 Farmall that he put on E bay brought $200.00. We welcomed two new life members Thursday evening. They are Tim Watts and Jacob Watts. OUR NEW CLUB WEB SITE. Go to www.WMATMA.com and take a peek. Kevin is adding to it daily. Our show bill is on it also. MY REMARKS. I want to thank Griffith Booking for all the thousands of newsletter copies he does for me throughout the year and Bob and Fay Zimmerman for all they do helping me get them mailed. One final note. The last couple of years has been pretty hard on our club. It is looking up once again because several folks are stepping up to fill job slots, but through it all, Bill Thurman has not just been our President, but a true leader. He has held the course and searched out and found solutions to a wide variety of problems. He has found a way to put the right people behind the right wheels. I am one member that wishes to thank Bill for what he has meant to this great club. TICKETS AND SHOW STUFF. Find a couple of tickets enclosed. Those of you that only get E mail must show your membership card at the gate to get tickets. Over 40 of you are Committee chairmen. When you get to Farrell and Duane’s clip joint and welcome center, pick up your chairman ribbon. Board members should wear their special Ribbon too. Nether of these groups should have a “member” ribbon. If you are a chairman or officer you would have to be a member. Right? Why not save the club .25 cents. Exhibitors will get a free button and a dash plate. Buttons are $1.00 if you do not exhibit. We have lots of window stickers at $1.00 each. All buckles are $15.00. Available is a club logo buckle that is non-dated plus a 2004 crawler buckle. One more attempt to save show ground space was to stop RV’s from camping on the grounds. It is spelled out on our show bill this year, but we’ll still have problems with this. Exceptions to this will be the RV’s used for an office or security reasons or chairmans headquarters when necessary. One more exception to the RV rule is the pickups with campers on the bed. The trailer campers and motor homes are the affected vehicles. If you have questions about this or any part of the show, call Bill Thurman at 816 293 5816. I need a half dozen bales of straw or light hay (maybe 40 to 50 lb) for contests. If anyone can help me, please call 816 297 2048 evenings. Don’t bring them with out calling me first. Thanks to Kenneth Engelhardt for the log that will be used for the sawing contest. It is always hot at our show, so stay in the shade all you can. The A/C will be on in the office and the Center if you get too much heat. There are lots of chairs in both places. May we all have good time visiting and please remember all of our friends that cannot be with us this year. NEXT YEARS SHOW!!! Yes, it is a far piece away, but get ready for a dandy. As you know we are featuring Allis and you may also know they are planning on a big reunion with a banquet, but I just learned their speaker will be “The world’s worst farmer” so their banquet should be a sell out. Along with that, the Cat club is planning on having their reunion during our show. It should all make for a very special event. Michael Crowe and Jim LaRose are putting a lot of effort into the 2005 show already. (Well, why not? It’s orange) Meet you in the Village Center for breakfast Don