Clinton County Corn Festival
By Ken Butterworth
2821 Wilmington Road, Lebanon, Ohio 45036
The 19th annual Clinton County Corn Festival was held in Wilmington, Ohio on September 6, 7, 8, 1996. The weather was perfect, no rain, sunny, no humidity and the temperature was in the high 60s. The tractor, small engine and steam engine enthusiasts had a perfect weekend to play. The steam engines had the perfect running 32-inch Avery thresher to power. There was a portable saw mill to show the power the steam engines could produce. The festival had several wagon loads of wheat to thresh and several logs to cut each of the three days. The fairgrounds were packed with people all three days.
32 inch Avery thresher.
20 HP 1920 Russell.
Another view of the 1920 Russell 20 HP.
1926 Avery 25-50 HP.
1918 Avery 14-28 HP.
1951 LUC JD combine engine; 1938 JD Series E 1HP.
1918 Farquhar 22-65 HP.
1930 Keck Gonnerman 19-65 HP.
1919 Aultman Taylor 30-60 HP.
1923 Frick 23-90 HP.
The steam engines were: 1920 Russell, 20 HP; 1930 Keck-Gonnerman, 19-65 HP; 1918 Farquhar, 22-65 HP; 1923 Frick, 23-90 HP.
There were stationary engines and tractors everywhere. I did not count the engines but I am sure there were at least 100. The tractors were well represented by every make and at least 200 were displayed. These numbers are very conservative estimates.
My dad and I had lots of fun showing my 1951 LUC combine engine made by John Deere and the 1938 Series E, 1 HP John Deere hit and miss engine.
We got to meet a lot of nice people, looked at great restored engines and tractors. What more could you ask for?