Antique tractors, steam engines and working farm equipment returned to the Platte County Fairgrounds as the Platte County Steam Engine Show celebrated its 65th year Aug. 14-15.
The two-day show at First and Trebble streets in Tracy featured John Deere tractors and engines. Admission was free, although the nonprofit organization accepted donations to support the annual event.
Visitors could see agricultural equipment in operation instead of viewing it only as a static display. Demonstrations included corn shelling, wheat threshing and a working 1914 hay press. Three scale-model steam engines were also used to power a full-size sawmill.
Friday began with breakfast and an 8:30 a.m. tractor cruise that included a scheduled stop at Historic Weston Orchard & Vineyard. Demonstrations and children’s rides followed. The day concluded with an equipment parade, dinner and a car cruise-in and show.
Saturday’s schedule included Farm Bureau’s “Touch a Tractor,” heirloom children’s games, a children’s tractor drive and a pedal pull. Demonstrations, train rides and barrel rides continued throughout the day, along with an equipment parade and garden tractor pull.
A swap meet, vendors, raffles and food were available during the show. The event was organized to preserve agricultural history while giving younger visitors opportunities to see and interact with machinery used by earlier generations of farmers.
The first Platte County Steam Engine Show was organized by George Dennis Offutt and held at the fairgrounds in July 1962. The event has continued as an annual gathering of machinery owners, collectors, volunteers and families.
The show has longstanding ties to the county’s farming families. In 2023, Offutt’s children donated a restored 1944 John Deere Model B tractor for a fundraising raffle in their father’s memory. The tractor had originally been sold to the Charles Reineke family of northern Platte County during World War II, when new farm machinery was rationed.
Platte County Steam Engine Show Inc. has been recognized as a federal tax-exempt historical organization since 2009. Organizers had not published 2026 attendance figures, exhibitor totals or raffle results as of Monday.
