Pedal Mania at the 2016 National Farm Toy Show
Almost everyone has a farm toy pedal memory. For me since I didn’t grow up on a farm, my memories tie in with buying, a Farmall newer model pedal tractor when my son Jason was little. Pedal memories also coincide with my husband and his farm toy collecting hobby. Keith has a variety of John Deere and some Graham Bradley pedals and is always keeping his eye out for the next “thing I need to round out my collection.”
At this year’s National Farm Toy Show in Dyersville, Iowa, there was a bit of pedal mania going on. Our first exposure to National Farm Toy Show pedal mania was outside of the National Farm Toy Show on Thursday, the day before the show begins. The National Farm Toy show is always held the first full weekend in November and opens on Friday late afternoon and continues until Sunday afternoon. The show is hosted by Toy Farmer Magazine and is held at the National Farm Toy Museum and Beckman High School, which is located across the street.
We arrived on Thursday afternoon and while vendors were not yet selling, they were setting up and you could get a glimpse of what was to come, and this included a group of neat pedal tractors. I saw a cool pedal car that while it was not, looked like a Graham Paige and caught my eye. Another cool sighting while not a pedal, was a wagon with a cover on it that made it into a covered wagon. The cover said, “Old West Trail Wagon”.
After perusing the pedals around the museum, we headed to Commercial Park where one gentleman was set up with a lineup of pedal tractors that included a Case VAC that he said had been in the Criswell Pedal book. Another gentleman set up outside at Commercial Park had a very cool Patrol Jeep that had come from a carousel ride. I really liked this one!
On Friday, we met up with Tom Magnuson who told me about my favorite pedal that I saw the entire show, a Minneapolis Moline UDLX. “Michael Bush from St. Joseph, Missouri made these,” Tom said. “He built them and made about 50 of them and had me sell them.
Tom was set up with his custom built trailer and his amazing pedal tractors as well. Pedals here, pedals there, farm tractor pedals everywhere!
If you are looking for a farm toy fix, while the National Farm Toy Show is over, there are several farm toy shows on the horizon and the National Farm Toy Museum is open year round. And yes, they have pedal tractors too! Log onto http://www.nationalfarmtoymuseum.com/ for more information.
