Our first show was held in 1992 with 80 tractors on display and 500 people in attendance. We wanted a free show with field demos; we did not care if the tractors displayed were painted or not—just if people would bring them to display or demonstrate in the field.
The next year, 1993 the show grew with more tractors and about 1,400 people in attendance. There were field demos, dyno testing, tractor pulling, garden tractor pulling demonstration, and kiddy pedal pulling.
The 1994 show drew about 3,700 people, with a bus of 35 people from England. That year, the directors and members decided to have a tractor raffle to help defray some of the cost of our show. The first year's tractor was an Allis Chalmers "B" tractor with the winner being Bill Becker from MO, he was standing in the crowd when his name was called! Our attendance was about 5,000 people in 1995. A WD-45 Allis Chalmers was driven from Ashland, Idaho to our "Orange Spectacular" show in Hutchinson. We had people from about 15 states and a tractor on display from Canada. The 1995 show brought a renowned photographer, Andrew Moreland, from England. He has a book out with a lot of pictures from our show. The 1995 show raffle tractor was an Allis Chalmers "C" which stayed a little closer to home as the winner was Tom Nichols from Elk River, MN.
Our 1996 show again had about 5,000 people in attendance. The Allis "CA" raffle tractor went to Arnold A. Peltzer from Ramsey, MN.
The 1997 and 1998 shows were also a huge success. Ray & Lois Tuma from Lonsdale, MN were the winners of the 1997 raffle tractor, an A-C "G". The 1998 D12 raffle tractor was won by Helmer Landsen of Chippewa Falls, WI.
The 1999 show was another success with people coming from 32 states in the USA, 3 providences from Canada, and Ecuador in South America! The winner of the D12 tractor was Glen Sider from Canada.
At the 2000 show Nancy Dobratz of Watertown, Minnesota took home the D10 raffle tractor. The crowd of over 6,000 had a chance to watch an A-C threshing machine at work for the first time at the show. Our visitors viewed over 200 A-C tractors, 50 different A-C implements, 75 swap meet vendors, and over 100 tables of toys on display.
The 2001 show was no exception, we had a very good turn out. The winners of the D14 show raffle tractor were Marilyn & Elwood Meier from Pierce, NE.
Our 2002 show was a great success, even if the rains threatened us. The winners of the D-15 raffle tractor were Luveme & Judy Maisel of Hubbard, IA. This was the first year we had a complete All Crop Harvester lineup. There were over 210 A-C tractors, a large swap area and several toy & memorabilia vendors. Over 5,000 people visited during the 2 day show.
Our "Orange Spectacular" is special because we have a lot of field demos, dyno testing, a swap meet, antique tractor pulling, garden tractor pulling, pedal pulling, and toys and other memorabilia to see in addition to all the A-C tractors and other equipment on display. Our show is FREE! Where else can you get so much history,
reminiscing and just good clean fun for free?!