Red Power Roundup celebrates 100 years of Farmall (2024)

A sea of red is a typical sight in Nebraska, but usually not until the fall on a game day in Memorial Stadium.

Fonner Park in Grand Island experienced a tidal wave of red tractors, equipment and Farmall fans at the 34th annual Red Power Roundup June 15-17.

This year marked two special milestones: 100 years of Farmall tractors and 70 years of the Fast Hitch design.

Fans from across the U.S. and Canada gathered in the heartland of Nebraska for the Red Power Roundup. Nebraska Chapter 12 International Harvester Collectors Club hosted the event. On Friday alone 4,563 people attended, said Donelle Moormeier, co-chair of the Red Power Roundup committee and a Chapter 12 member. Attendance on Thursday was 3,597, and Sunday nearly matched that.

The show’s commemorative toy tractor sold out, with an order list running five pages long, Moormeier said.

“Some people go to every show and collect a memento like the toy tractor,” she added.

This year’s toy model was a 450 Farmall.

In each building, tractors lined the aisles. Other exhibits were grouped by theme, such as a corn harvesting scene staging an elevator “dumping” into a truck. Another special display was the Electrall generator, which is a rare find as not many were fabricated.

The 100-year exhibition of Farmall tractors was in full array in the Heartland Events Center. Of special note in this area was a Moline Universal vintage, rear-steer tractor from 1918.

Steel wheel tractors and Fast Hitch implements were showcased in the Five Points Bank Arena. Fast Hitch was revolutionary in 1953 as it allowed operators to easily attach and detach implements while staying in the tractor seat.

Additional tractors, equipment, trucks, memorabilia and vendors were arranged throughout Fonner Park.

“In just the sheep barn, we counted 238 tractors and more outside,” Moormeier said.

The 2023 Red Power Roundup required three years of preparation. In 2020, Chapter 12 applied to be host and won the bid. Since then, volunteers have been organizing every aspect of the show.

Volunteer Frank Gosda of Grand Island shared what happened behind the scenes to make the event possible. He said that Donelle Moormeier “deserves a lot of recognition.”

He also shared how Chapter 12 president Howard Raymond of Curtis, Nebraska, spent months travelling to other states. He was recruiting people to bring their tractors to Nebraska for the Red Power Roundup.

The tractors and other exhibits began arriving Monday before the show to be set up and parked.

Some of the tractors and equipment at the Red Power Roundup has been restored and glimmered in the lights. Others are faded from years of use. Each one has a unique story.

Gosda brought the only yellow International Cub at the Red Power Roundup. The color is not the only distinctive feature as it also has heavy-duty steering, a foot throttle and vertical exhaust.

This is just one of the 35 or so Farmall Cub or International Cub Lo-boy tractors that Gosda owns. The Cub is the smallest farm tractor that International Harvester made between 1947 and 1979. He initially bought a Cub to mow the property around his lake house.

“I still own that Cub, and I sold the lake lot,” Gosda said, laughing. “It’s never seen the lake.”

The Brennfoerder family from Edgar, Nebraska, also has quite a collection of tractors. In the past 20 years, they have owned more than 400 tractors.

“It’s an obsession—we used to call it a hobby,” Kathy Brennfoerder said.

They brought 11 of their restored tractors to the Red Power Roundup. The Farmall M-TA (torque amplifier) tractors were part of the 100-year display.

The Juenemann family from Norten, Kansas, can probably boast they have the best family reunions with their tractor-powered ice cream maker. In 45 minutes, they can slow-churn five gallons of the creamiest ice cream.

Dustin Juenemann said he was inspired to do something after his nephew, Anthony Geisinger, passed away last summer.

“He was a farmer, super intelligent and could build anything,” Dustin said.

He had seen some of the great things his nephew had been working on, and Dustin knew what he had to do when he came across the idea for a 5-gallon ice cream maker.

“We’ve got the tractors, we’re going to put an ice cream maker on one,” he said.

The Farmall BN tractor is actually owned by another nephew, Dalton Juenemann. He was only about 6 months old when he became a tractor owner.

“My dad decided the baby needed a tractor,” Dalton said, who has now owned the tractor just shy of 25 years.

His said his dad restored the Farmall BN, as well as some of the five other tractors the Juenemann family brought to the Red Power Roundup. Dalton and his dad did overhaul the PTO system a few years prior to attaching the ice cream maker.

Since the ice cream maker needs to run at 50-60 RPM, they use the PTO instead of the belt pulley.

“I turned everything 90 degrees and ended up running if off the PTO, which slowed it down about half right there, and with the reduction at the jack shaft it runs nice and slow to get smooth, creamy ice cream,” Dustin said.

The ice cream maker chugged along through the Parade of Power, a daily event at the Red Power Roundup. The crowd lined the parade route as Farmall and International Harvester tractors putted by, enthralling people of all ages.

Children especially enjoyed the small engines display at the Red Power Roundup. They could add an ear of corn to the chute, watch it slide into the corn sheller and come out as corn kernels from the auger on the other side.

Other small engines were powering a water pump or corn grinder, as well as a saw cutting metal square tubing. Brian Wittrock of Carroll, Iowa, travels to threshing bees and shows with his small engines collection, which he has been accruing for 35 years. While he strictly brought red to the Red Power Roundup, Wittrock also collects John Deere and Maytag.

“I enjoy going to shows,” Wittrock said. “These bigger shows are fun.”

Wittrock is a member of the Iowa Chapter 5, which will host the 2024 Red Power Roundup. The 100-years of Farmall tractors will be celebrated all year and end at the 2024 show.

Save the date for the 35th Red Power Roundup June 20-23, 2024, at the Clay County Fairgrounds in Spencer, Iowa.

Waiting an entire year for the next Red Power Roundup will be hard for Farmall and International Harvester enthusiasts. Gosda said some of them have been attending these events together for 15-20 years and have formed lasting friendships.

“Every time we get together at power roundups or a Cub Fest, it’s like a big family reunion because we’ve gotten close over the years,” said Gosda.