Dairy Princess Parade - Part 1

I left the Dairy Princess Festival in the village park (see yesterday's post) and headed toward my parked car, crossing Main Street in Canton, New York:

The perfect Small Town America, Canton was already filling up with spectators for the parade even though it wouldn't pass by this section for some time yet:

As for me, I was walking toward the beginning of the parade. but on the way, I had to stop and ask about this adorable puppy. She was a seven week old Bloodhound:

I positioned myself on Court Street, another wonderfully scenic example of small town America:

And then the parade began. Fire trucks and ambulances were first:

The Dairy Princess and her court, waving regally at their adoring subjects below. Notice the balloons with Holstein spots:

All the floats celebrated some aspect of the dairy industry:

There was a large contingent of children walking dogs, and their banner proclaimed that it was St. Lawrence County PAWS 4-H Club:

A daycare center float, created out of a hay wagon:

Human fruits and vegetables led the way for GardenShare, an organization which grows healthy crops for local food banks:

The St. Lawrence Power & Equipment Museum in the town of Madrid (which I've visited and posted about several times) hosted a float with giant milk carton and milk cans:

St. Mary's had a dairy themed float with lots of hay bales. And the parade kept coming. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow:

Old Fashioned Harvest Days In The Town Of Madrid - Part 3

The miniature horse pulls were what I'd most hoped to see, and they were in full swing when I arrived. Alas, the bleachers were full and it was difficult to find a good spot from which to take photos, but I tried:

These tiny work horses were all energized and anxious to go. And boy oh boy, did they give it all they had!:

The little horses were so anxious to pull that their handlers had difficulty getting them hooked up to the sled with the weight:

I believe I heard the announcer say that the sled was bearing 1800 pounds, a lot for two tiny horses to get moving:

Each team of two got a chance and then the handlers brought out another team to give it a try:

Here's a very brief video of the action:


I left the miniature horse pulls and began walking over to the grainary and corn crib:

The Walker family grainary was moved here and lovingly restored. The sign didn't actually say, but gave the impression that it was built about 1920:

Inside the grainary were wooden bins to store the grain, a fanning mill and other related equipment:

From there I walked to the Maple barn where, I was surprised to learn, the St. Lawrence County Maple Queen which I had met had been replaced by a new Maple Queen:

And just then, the 1932 Worthington Golf Tractor, which I featured in yesterday's post, went driving by. Two older gentlemen were riding it, chatting and enjoying their tour:

There was an entire flatbed filled with miniature farm equipment. A sign said they were all fully operational, half size (I'd have guessed smaller) and built by Garry Wilson of Lunenburg, Ontario:

A horse drawn wagon drove by, but it had no passengers at that time. I supposed it would fill up soon. But I was tired and hungry, so I walked to my car and began the drive home:

Old Fashioned Harvest Days In The Town Of Madrid - Part 2

There was an old fashioned, steam powered sawmill in operation:

More antique cars:

And this tractor driving around the grounds, pulling a wagon loaded with kids, their little brown dog and grandpa:

This 100 horsepower diesel engine once ran a cheese box factory in Heulvelton, New York. It was running and making lots of noise:

Old time power equipment wherever one looked. This fully operational miniature tractor was a big hit with this boy. His mom told him to get out of the way so I could take a picture, but I said I'd love it if he'd get back on it again. He refused, however, saying instead that he had to "make some repairs." He got in front to check the engine. I think he's going to be a mechanic some day:

Folks (and a few dogs) walked around, examining the old tractors:

And other old time farm equipment. There were several big barns filled with more tractors and equipment, but I never even went inside to see them this time:

This unique little dozer/loader was a wonder to me. I thought it might be for moving snow until I saw the teeth on the bottom of the bucket. That made me think it might have been for picking up stones in a field:

A 1932 Worthington golf course tractor. The Worthington Mower Company produced such equipment from the early 1920s until 1959:

There was a small Civil War encampment:

A 1922 steam engine, used by the St. Lawrence County Highway Department for many years:

This amazing vehicle was running up and down the dirt lanes with very few riders. The man in the white shirt flagged down the driver and asked to get on. He did, and I hobbled up behind, catching up to the wagon, and joined him. We had a nice ride and tour of the grounds until we reached the site of the miniature horse pulls. But I'll post about that tomorrow:

Old Fashioned Harvest Days In The Town Of Madrid - Part 1

The St. Lawrence Power And Equipment Museum was hosting the autumn open house, called "Old Fashioned Harvest Days," and I attended. I parked my car and entered the grounds. Power equipment of varying degrees of antiquity (but mostly quite old) was everywhere:

The last time I was here, the school house had been moved into place and work days were scheduled to get it restored. They'd dedicated it that very morning and I was anxious to see the improvement:

They'd done a marvelous job and filled it with old style desks, the original chalkboard and a school marm in period costume. There was children's graffiti on the front wall from 1944, but it didn't photograph well. Still, it was nice to see that they'd allowed such historic touches to remain:

Outside of the school house were antique tractors:

And more antique tractors and other farm equipment:

And a small barn, sand pile and toy equipment for kids to play with:

I walked from there to the old, restored shoe shop:

It was authentically restored, both inside and out:

Antique cars and trucks were everywhere, parked casually as if their drivers were just off visiting the museum's displays - and perhaps they were:

Then I went to see the old, restored Texaco station:

It too was authentically restored, both inside and out:

And reminded me of gas stations from my childhood. Heck, it reminded me a little bit of the mechanic's garage where I take my car now:

There were harvesting demonstrations:

And steam engines of all sizes and descriptions running. This small one was powering an old time log splitter. But there was lots more to see. I'll post Part 2 tomorrow: