This is a triple play post. It begins with the oldest of three events I attended on three consecutive days this week. On Thursday, I stopped by The Great Darke County Fair in Greenville, Ohio. The first was held in 1853. The one just now ending is the 163rd. The difference between number of years (166) and number of fairs are the cancellations in 1862 and ’63 for the Civil War and 1949 for a polio outbreak.
There was a time when I’d walk through the barns and exhibit halls seeking out the entries of friends and relatives, but no more. At best, a familiar family name might identify a grandchild of someone I once knew but even that’s pretty iffy.
On Friday I took in the 53rd annual Tri-State Gas Engine and Tractor Show in Portland, Indiana. That’s the same place I attended the National Vintage Motor Bike meet about a month ago. My friend Dale had a tent at the bike show. This time it was my friend Terry with his fleet of Wheel Horses. That’s Terry in the white shirt talking with another Wheel Horse collector. In the post about the Vintage Motor Bikes, I mentioned how deep the discussions can get when two bicycle collectors get together. Same thing with tractors, and when both collect the same brand, the level of detail absolutely pegs the meter. Turns out they are not actually talking about Wheel Horses in the picture. They’re talking about that strange looking REO riding reel mower in front of them.
The second picture shows a Crosley V8. The fellow displaying it made it by joining together two Crosley four cylinders. Even though it’s his creation, it’s not his idea. Apparently Crosley Corporation made a few of their own “twin-4s” though they were not very successful. Crosley experimented with a whole lot of rather bizarre concepts and this guy seems to own one of just about all of them and brings a different set each year. That’s a cord braider in the last picture. I tried getting a video of the thing in action but it was a complete failure. I do have a somewhat close-up picture, though.
The third thing of the week was the new thing. The first Porchfest took place in Ithaca, New York in 2007. The concept of local musicians playing on people’s front porches really caught on and there are now Porchfests across the country. Dayton, Ohio, got on board just last year. The Dayton Porchfest happens in the St. Anne’s Hill neighborhood which I’ve written about before. It’s where “my brewery” (Fifth Street Brewpub) is. This year, just like last, the T.R.S.S Drum Corp started things off without the need for a porch.
At the top of each of the next five hours, musicians would begin performances on eight to ten of the neighborhood’s porches. That’s a whole bunch of music. The three groups pictured, the Good Time Accordion Band, A Shade of Red, and the Gotham City Brass Quintet, are just a fraction of what I saw and I saw just a fraction of what was offered.
Some rain had fallen earlier and a drizzle appeared about halfway through the drum corp’s performance. It came and went as I took in a song or two from most of the first set of musicians. It became a steady shower while I paused at the brewpub. I actually set out for a second round but changed my mind within a few feet. It wasn’t a heavy rain but it was enough to send me to my car instead of walking down the street. The bands played on to umbrella covered listeners. Porchfest is a wonderful concept, and I certainly enjoyed my first rain shortened exposure. I’ll be watching for the event’s return next year.
