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Belwood Tractor & Engine Show marks 26 years

It was 1991 and Don Dellinger had a dream. He wanted to create a museum in the Belwood community to honor "hard-working individual farmers." While town leaders were supportive, they told Dellinger there was no budget for such a museum. That's when Dellinger got the idea for a show or festival to raise money for the facility. "I had been through the Midwest and had seen shows like this - they were similar to a fair," Dellinger says. "I took my idea back to the town, and again, they liked the idea, but they didn't have much faith that a festival would work."
Twenty-six years later, the annual Belwood Antique Tractor & Engine Festival has become a tradition in this small community. This year's event is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 8 - Sat., Sept. 10, 2016 at the Old Belwood School, 133 Carpenter's Grove Church Road in Belwood.
Activities for the three-day event include crafts, a blacksmith shop, molasses and cider mills, operational corn and saw mills, working horses and mules, a country store and hundreds of tractors and engines on exhibit. Antique tractor pulls will take place Thursday from 7-11 p.m. and Saturday from 6-11 p.m., and a Lawn Mower Pull will be held Friday at 7 p.m. Saturday will also feature a parade at 1 p.m. and a Kids' Tractor Pull at 3 p.m. Admission to the festival is $6, with a senior discount on Friday morning. Parking is free, and camping spaces may be reserved for $15 per night. All proceeds benefit the Belwood Heritage Museum, the answer to Dellinger's dream. The museum will be open daily during the festival.
For more information, visit the festival's Facebook page by searching for "Belwood Antique Tractor & Engine Festival," or call Dellinger at 704-538-3451.

By April Hoyle Shauf

Special to Shelby Shopper & Info


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