News : Tractor Day: FFA members fill parking lot Friday

Water on the window distorts the image as Cole Emrich helps prepare for Tractor Day at VSHS.

Cole Emrich handles the brush as John Eden uses the power washer as they prepare for Tractor Day.

Days before the parade of tractors rolls along Highway 218 and turns west on 21st Street toward Vinton-Shellsburg High School, V-S FFA members began preparing their tractors for the annual event.

The lower end of the school parking lot is filled with tractors Friday morning – some new and huge, with four or even eight tires as tall as some of the students who will be driving them to school. Others will be smaller and as old as their parents or grandparents. Each one, however, has its own story, and memories it inspires.

Nobody knows for sure exactly when the tradition of driving tractors to school began at VSHS.

“Without doing some digging back at school through our old chapter programs and scrapbooks, I do not remember the specific year we started tractor drive-in day,” said retired Ag teacher and FFA advisor Duane Fisher.

Still active in many local ag-related projects, Fisher clearly remembers, however, the impact of the tradition.

“We wanted to promote agriculture for national agriculture day plus at the time we had a tractor PTO dyno (hook up to tractor to determine horsepower) in the ag shop. It became a fun tradition for students to have the friendly competition as to tractors with most power. Lots of people always stopped by the school parking lot to check out the tractors. It was a very positive PR event for the FFA and for agriculture. I know lots of students who looked forward to and very much enjoyed the day.”

The friendly competition also continues on Friday, as students take turn hooking up their tractors to the dyno, which measures how much power is in each tractor’s Power Take Off. For city readers unfamiliar with the term, a PTO is a part of the tractor that uses the power from the engine to run implements pulled behind the tractors, from hay balers to manure spreaders to grain augers and more. The test helps determine the capacity of each tractor’s machine, but also gives members a chance to earn bragging rights as the person with the most powerful PTO.

For several members, preparation began where it has for many years, in a machine shed on a hill overlooking Vinton, from where all of the agricultural landmarks are clearly visible.

Students John Eden, Steve Henry, Cole Emrich and Jared McGowan gathered at the Siela farm, where former FFA members Austin and Neil Siela continue to work with their father, Wayne.

Surrounded by tractors in the familiar colors of John Deere green and yellow, and signs and pictures with the Iowa State cardinal and gold, Eden was working with Wayne Siela, installing a new fuel filter as he prepared for the PTO contest. Later he and his peers power-washed and waxed the tractor he will drive to school on Friday.

Early Friday morning, a few others joined Eden at the Siela Farm, from where they will drive to school, along with 20 or more other students. After school, they will briefly parade through Vinton, where they traditionally stop at Tootsie’s Ice Cream & More before returning home at the end of the day.

FFA members have been leading the celebration of FFA Week throughout the past few days at VSHS. Students wore coveralls on Monday, and had special themes each day. A “duct tape” assembly will take place Friday afternoon.

“I am glad that this tremendous tradition continues very strongly with the FFA chapter,” says Mr. Fisher.

See more photos HERE.