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By Laurence Hindley

I have been a member of the AutoXpo team since 1990. My involvement got started in a meeting with Frank Hizer. He was aware of my collection through local parades, community events and fair exhibits. What I really do at the AutoXpo is to keep the Tractor exhibits, Hit & Miss Engines, and Tractor Pulls going,

I thought it would be fun to exhibit my collection as well as collections of friends of mine with the same interests. So I made a few phone calls and people started showing up. The first year we had about 20 people exhibiting. They came from the local area as well as Santa Rosa, Petaluma, Redding, Chico and Oregon, and Frank was not sure I was even going to get anyone to show up! Hah...I surprised him! The third year, Andrew Wilson and I decided to do a threshing machine downtown, so we set up the machine at the 12th Street stop light. We made a hell of a mess but people liked it!

About five years into the show we decided we wanted to do tractor pulls. So with the help of co-workers at the Farm Shop, my friend Dennis Wendt, and a lot of friends the tractor pulling sled came alive. We moved to the park about the same time and started filling the park up.

Each year we've added more antique equipment to make the show more interesting. Every year I am amazed how many people from all over the nation contact me about the show. They usually have heard about the show by word of mouth. Most come to show their equipment and some come just to look.

Ask anyone who has attended and they will tell you that we have the best show on the West Coast because we treat them like “a local friend.”

photo by Heather Nyberg-Shlotzhauer

Antique John Deere Tractor and baler on display at the Rohner Park AutoXpo Antique Show last weekend.