124 people attended CVAEMA’s annual banquet on January 27, 2018. Solomons Church prepared an excellent meal, as always, followed by homemade pie and ice cream for dessert. President Randy Geist emceed the evening welcoming everyone and cracking a couple jokes.
Recently I’ve been on a quest to reorganize and display goodies in my barn. While moving things around I ran into an item that brought back some great memories. This thing-a-magig belonged to Edgar Hoffeditz. Edgar & Betty and my family attended many engine shows together.
I wonder how many people can remember how the spring engine show came about. Long before we had a club, show grounds or even an annual show, there were a local group of folks who were restoring and showing old iron. It was a small gang of men and their wives who attended and exhibited at the small local shows. In the early spring, we would pick a location to have a swap and sell. People would bring piles of treasures from their sheds, garages and barns. Old iron would be thrown out on the ground, tailgates and tables. It was great to wander around and think of all the things you could do with the parts and pieces.
In our quest to preserve the agricultural history of the Cumberland Valley, it is easy to locate relics of our past and display them as they were used 100 years ago, we are blessed with a rich manufacturing history. The Frick and Geiser Companies come to mind locally, but there are many others within 100 miles of our show grounds that are also of importance. There are other important local agricultural contributions that are rather unknown to most folks. One of them, is soft red winter wheat variety discovered a few miles outside of Chambersburg in 1879.