Parade brings agriculture and community together
By Janet Kubat Willette
jkubat@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 04/22/2010 9:07 AM
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RANDOLPH, Minn. — Red and green, rusty and shiny, tractors of all makes and models sat in the Randolph Schools parking lot.
Their owners and drivers milled about visiting, waiting for the 8th annual Randolph Tractor Parade to begin. Idling tractors and band instruments provided the background music as more tractors arrived and the Randolph band warmed up.
Somewhere around 9 a.m. Friday, a Randolph-Hampton fire truck started off down the road, leading the parade of 105 tractors through downtown Randolph.
Band members rode toward the front of the parade in the band wagon pulled by a Massey Ferguson 1080 diesel.
Right behind the band, Floyd Budensiek of Cannon Falls drove his 1948 Allis Chalmers G, leading off more than a hundred tractors.
There were blue ones, orange ones, yellow ones, greens, gray and red … Case, International Harvester, Oliver, Minneapolis Moline, Farmall, John Deere, Kubota, Case International and Ford, to name a few.
The oldest was a 1937 John Deere and the youngest, a 2010 Case International. The smallest had 11-and-a-half horsepower and the largest, 450 horsepower, said Ed Terry, Randolph FFA adviser and agricultural education teacher.
Terry had two of his tractors in the parade, his son had one and his brother had one. The Randolph FFA had five tractors in the parade, the sixth decided it didn't want to run.
The parade was the brainchild of two FFA members, Terry said. That first year there were 27 tractors. Now, the parade has become a annual rite of spring, a celebration before planting season begins. Tractors come on trailers and others are driven to school.
It's a big deal for kids to drive in the parade and for the older ones, it's the first parade of the season, Terry said. Tractors drivers ranged in age from 12 to 84. The Taylor family had four generations driving in the parade.
Terry, who celebrated his birthday Friday, kept tabs on the parade, watching part of it from the lawn in front of the school while making sure everything went well in the parking lot behind the school.
Randolph students sat on blankets covering the school lawn pointing and talking as the tractors drove by. Third graders Cody Pariseau and Joey Werner and their friends sat on the cement around the school sign. All were devoted John Deere fans. Werner and Pariseau said they like the green iron because that's what their family uses.
Fifth graders Amy Miller, Brooke Weber and Grace Taylor huddled together on a John Deere blanket a few steps away.
Weber brought the blanket, which belongs to her brother, Matthew, to sit on in the chilly morning.
"I like John Deere," she said, adding that she was wearing a John Deere T-shirt.
Likewise, Weber was wearing a John Deere T-shirt.
"John Deere's the best," she said, but she likes Case too.
Miller said she likes all the tractors.
Budensiek said the students were waving as he drove by.
"It was a good crowd reaction," agreed Matt Braun, who drove a 1998 John Deere 9400 owned by Braun Turf Farms of Hampton.
The students looked to be enjoying themselves as did the adults of all ages who sat along the parade route, he said.
It was Budensiek's first time in the parade and he was tickled to be up front. His G is rare around here, he said. It was a nursery tractor. He found it last summer in Ellsworth, Wis., and restored it over the winter, working on it in the shed behind his house. A farmer-friend who does sandblasting and painting over the winter put on a new coat of Allis-Chalmers orange. It has a front and back cultivator and new rear tires.
"I grew up with Allis Chalmers," Budensiek said.
His next project is a D10 Allis, which he hopes to restore this year. He'll have it ready to drive in next year's Randolph parade.
"I'll have to find another driver," Budensiek said.
His G stood smaller than the tires on Braun's 9400, but both tractors were part of the history on display.
Braun's 425 horsepower John Deere was one of the larger tractors in the parade. Braun participates in Randolph's Young Farmer program and has driven in the parade for four or five years.
He comes to support Terry and because it's fun to talk to the people and look at the tractors.
Vern Hupf comes to see the old tractors and meet people. Hupf, of Randolph, drove his 1964 Minneapolis Moline M602 to the school. It took about a half hour, he said.
Hupf bought the tractor new in 1964 and farmed with it for 30 years.
Wes Boettcher drove Tommy Diethelm's International 350 Utility in the parade. Boettcher spent about three hours with Diethelm, of Carver, gathering three tractors Thursday night. He brought the International, a John Deere B from near Jordan, and an Allis Chalmers WD45 from Union Hill west of New Prague on one trailer.
"They come from all over," Braun said. "This is a really big parade."
"It was a nice day for it too, beautiful," Budensiek said.