Rust ’N Dust
The 35th Anniversary Celebration of the society's signature heritage gathering - antique tractor pulls, demonstrations, music, wagon rides, and rural traditions across Heritage Park.
Rust ’N Dust is the society’s signature heritage show, held every year at Heritage Park. The antique tractors are the headliners - Allis-Chalmers, Farmall, Oliver and more, shown on the field and run on the pull track - but the day is bigger than the machines.
How it started
The show began when Bill and Chuck Adams got a few people together to find out whose tractor could pull the heaviest load. Besides the pull, there was wheat threshing with a very old threshing machine, and some old farm equipment was put on display. Bill Adams suggested the name Rust ’N Dust, and it stuck.
Where it has been held:
- The first eight years - at Adams Farms.
- 1999 through 2001 - on the Tom and John Reed farm.
- Since 2002 - at Heritage Park, its present home.
The society was approached with a plan to sponsor the tractor show, and agreed. Rust ’N Dust was the first event held at the new Heritage Park.
What happens at the show
At recent shows the grounds have included live music at the pavilion, the antique popcorn wagon, wood-burned souvenir signs made on the spot, and displays of old farm equipment in the Antique Farm Equipment Building. Kids get their own corner: pedal-tractor races, a hand water pump, and a wringer washboard where laundry becomes surprisingly popular. Crafters demonstrate their trades, vendors sell their wares, and the Conklin Reed Organ Museum opens for tours during the show.
New vendors and attractions are added every year, while the old events stay. Alongside the music, the old farm equipment on display and the crafters, vendors and exhibitors, the show’s activities include:
- Tractor pulls - open to farm-stock tractors built before 1960, and held with a progressive sled. The winner of each division earns bragging rights and the obligation to provide donuts for everyone they beat.
- Oat and wheat threshing - on the same old threshing machine.
- Kids on the Farm - children pitch hay, milk a cow, gather and grade eggs, make straw bales, grind wheat and make butter.
- Sawmill and shingle mill demonstrations.
- A kids’ tractor pull - on a pedal tractor, with a small transfer sled.
- Wagon rides - through the park, every hour.
- A “trash to treasure” sale.
The 2027 show
2027 is a milestone: the 35th Anniversary Celebration. The day’s lineup includes antique tractor pulls, heritage demonstrations, music, vendors, crafters, kids’ activities, a silent auction, the Trash-to-Treasures flea market, the saw mill, kiddie tractor pulls, food, wagon rides, vintage cars and Old Time Cruisers, and blacksmith demonstrations - with the Conklin Reed Organ Museum open 1:00 to 3:00 p.m.
The evening before, on Friday, August 20, a Rust ’N Dust potluck is held at the Event Center: social time at 6:00 p.m., dinner at 6:30.
Watch the newsletter and this page as the date approaches for the full schedule of pulls, demonstrations and activities.
No registration needed — just come.
Show up on the day and we will be glad to see you. If you have a question before then — about parking, accessibility or what to bring — the office is happy to help.
Office hours: Tuesday–Friday, 9:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.
There is always something next.
See what else is on the calendar, or have event news delivered before the date fills up.