The sixth annual Washington Township School tractor ride rolled south on County Road P58 a little after 9 a.m. Saturday on its annual tour of Dallas County.
Kathy Book of Minburn, who with her husband, Dave, helps organize the annual summer tours, said this year’s route would take in Redfield, where the tractors would make the “pre-parade parade” at Saturday’s Old Settlers Day in Redfield.
After making a spectacle of themselves in Redfield, the convoy of classic tractors made a brief stop at Hanging Rock Park near Redfield at the confluence of the Middle and South Raccoon Rivers.
The tractors then moved on toward Dexter at an average speed of 10 to 12 mph. Stops along the Dexfield Road included the Dexfield Park, site of the 1933 shootout with Bonnie and Clyde, and the 1948 National Soil Conservation Field Days and Plowing Matches Commemorative Marker, recalling the plowing contest and the 1948 campaign visit by President Harry Truman.
A special tour of the Dexter Museum awaited the tractorcade in Dexter, where they also toured a senior citizen village.
Chekota Kluesner of Minburn, making her first tour in the annual ride, was mounted on a 1954 McCormick-Deering Farmall 460.
The ride ended where it began, with ice cream and crisp served as a welcome relief from the rigors of the open road.
Proceeds from the annual tractor ride, which falls on the last Saturday in June, help support ongoing restoration efforts at the Washington Township Consolidated School. The morning began with a community breakfast in the school lunchroom where about 100 were served.
