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It was a wonderful Fall Banquet at the Der Dutchman in Plain City. Everyone had a great time visiting, eating, and having our annual meeting. We had 95 members in attendance and a guest speaker. As you arrived you could purchase merchandise, look at and bid on the silent auction items and purchase tickets for the 2023 Raffle.

Dinner was served and everyone ate until they were stuffed.

Larry began the meeting by welcoming everyone and thanking everyone for coming. He talked about the silent auction items and having fun with bidding. There was a special thanks the Lyn Parker for her beautiful prayer and to Jan Huck for all the extra things he does and makes for the club behind the scenes.

Each board member took their turn talking about a highlight of the year for them. Of course, John Parker couldn’t do it so Lyn helped him out.

We have talked about the cost of living over the last few years, and it is again the topic with changes to how the Der Dutchman will be charging us next year. We will rent the two rooms for three hours then each additional hour is $50 per hour per room. Another $300 for us to stay until 4pm. This is just one more thing we have to plan for and be sure we have it covered.

The Secretaries and Treasurer’s reports were given and approved. The 2022 picnic, summer show and Farm Science Review were recapped with Larry expressing his disappointment in the turnout at the summer show.

Offices open for election this year were President and Secretary. Larry accepted the Presidency and was reelected. Matt Davis was nominated and elected the next Secretary.
Lauren Mellot was our guest speaker and the second place 2022 HPOCA Scholarship recipient.

We played the Rebus picture game and gave away prizes. The silent auction closed, and the winners called out. Larry talked about the raffle prized for 2023 – Thank You to Maibach Tractor for the Neon Clock for 2nd place and Matt Davis for the toy tractor for 3rd place.

Member of the Year is Wayne and Mary Groweg; Lifetime Achievement Award went to Willy Prushing – Congratulations!

Another great Banquet is in the books!

Our summer show was at the Corn Festival at the Clinton County Fairgrounds in Wilmington, Ohio, September 9-11. This was an excellent place for a show. There were 5 building of crafts, antiques and flea market items, many festival displays and food everywhere.
We had 68 tractors and implements on display. The numbers were not what we were hoping for but the number of rare tractors was hard to beat. We signed up 8 new members with some of them sitting in the tent listening to stories and telling some new ones. Thanks to Larry Mayer and family for the large iron and rare pieces displayed. Thanks to Richard Kimball for bringing the two old Hart Parr’s. Saturday afternoon we grilled out. 35 people sat under the tent and ate. Thank You, Jan Yaple, for all you did for the cookout. We had a great evening.

The weather was up and down but nice all week with it being in the 80’s the first two days and in the 60’s on Thursday. The tent stayed busy, especially on Wednesday. The tent was busting at the seams with the guys gathered around telling stories. I seen some faces that I have not been out in a while. I was glad to see all of you.

We had 4 new members join us bringing our membership to 159 paid for 2022.
Tractors were displayed by Mark Smith, Kurt Troutwine, Wayne Groweg, Dennis Baker, Patrick Campbell, Steve Guider, John Gustina, Jan Huck, Larry Mayer, Jerry McBride, Roger Diehl, John Mercer, Dave Miller, John Parker, Roger Rowland, and Lynn Smith. Thanks to each of you for giving us a great display.

The spring picnic was a great day at Dave Miller’s farm in Clyde, OH. The weather was cool to start with a perfect ending.

Dave and Cheryl hosted 95 members and guests. The barnyard was

full of tractors on display bringing the guys to gather around and talk about what they were looking at. To the side and back barnyard the Club tent was up and trucks were parked around full of items they were buying, selling and trading.

There was even an antique wrench display.

Larry Mayer started our day off by discussing the Summer Show at the Corn Festival in September beginning with the tractor drive on the 4^th and the show the 9^th – 11^th. See the flyers.

Lynn Parker gave our prayer and everyone ate. The shop was overflowing with guests, so the doors were opened and tables flowed into the barnyard.

Everyone again out-did themselves with all the great homemade dishes. Everyone should have went home feeling stuffed.

Larry started the meeting by thanking everyone for coming and ask who were first timers; who introduced themselves. He then ask who traveled the farthest. The travel was incredible with 4 states being represented. The Bloom Family; Larry, Brenda & Sarah are from Cherry Hill, PA at 360 miles. Kenny Toohill traveled from near Rantoul, IL at 275 miles. And our Michigan members always make the trip. Thanks to everyone for coming from near and far.

Thanks to Wayne and Mary Groweg for letting us use their tables and chairs.

Thanks to Bob Martin for his cash donation towards our next memorial plaque which he made at the fall banquet.

Farm Science review is September 20-22 at the Molly Caren Agricultural Center in London, OH. We hope to see you there.

The Banquet was again a big success.  We started out with members arriving and being excited to see each other and checking out the room.  Once inside they were able to shop some of the Club merchandise and a few other items for sale.  Raffle tickets were being sold for the two pedal tractors, the lighted picture and the 2255 toy.  The Spirit of Oliver pedal tractor was donated by Jim and Laquetta Kline.  The Cockshutt 1550 pedal tractor was donated by Doug and Kathy Mitchell.  The lighted picture was donated by John and Bob Martin.  Thank you for your donations.  Across the front of the room were tables full of silent auction items that got constant attention and the bidding was on. Thank you to all the board members for these donations.

On the big screens a slide show presented a collection of pictures from all of our 22 years as a club.

Lyn Parker delivered a prayer and dinner was served.  We had a great meal and wonderful service.

Larry called the meeting to order and proceeded through our club business.  As the whole world has been changing over the last couple of years he was interested in what our members wanted from the club and its board members.  To find this out he handed out a survey which everyone filled out and returned.  As the meeting went on he was able to quickly look at some of the answers and quickly seen everyone wants more information.  Stories from our senior generation and information about the days when Oliver was a thriving company. We had at least four of these guys in attendance, all agreeing to talk at a future event.  So Larry has set out to plan and make this happen.

We also talked about having some different / additional events, offering a bigger variety for all.

Larry would take a break so more silent auction bidding could happen.

The Kopp family presented some Oliver license plate designs which was decided to add to the Club’s merchandise choices.

The upcoming shows were talked about with the excitement starting to build for the 2022 summer show at the Corn Festival in Wilmington.  Paul Clark of their club told us about the show and what to expect.

David Miller talked about the spring picnic being at his farm then introduced his fiance` Cheryl Johnston.  Congratulation!

The raffle drawing was exciting with the first prize going to Richard Kopp who jumped out of his chair, arms in the air, dancing around!  Second place when to  Charles Morgan of Montana who bought his ticket at the Richwood show.  He was in Ohio visiting his nephew David Draper from Marysville.  I delivered the picture to David and he said they planned to attend our summer show again in 2022.  Morgan Emerson won the 2255 toy and was excited to receive it.

The bidding finished and the high bidders of the silent auction items were announced.

Then it was time for the awards.  These are very dear to Larry and this year was especially difficult do to his personal connections.  The “Member of the Year” award went to Bill and Jan Yaple.  They have shown their dedication to the club and the each other through good times and tough times.

The “Life Time Achievement” award went the Dennis Baker, one of our founding members and a dedicated life time of Oliver knowledge.  I am sure he bleeds green. These awards were an honor to present to these great individuals.

What a Farm Science Review! Set up on Sunday before was excellent weather – sunshine and warm. Everything went as planned with the lot being mowed, the tent went up, tractors parked and all the details in place. Then came the “weather”. The first day of the show it was misting rain, breezy and just not very nice out. Well, Wednesday turned into a zero with the show being cancelled – for the first time in the shows history. It rained, and then it rained and then it rained somo more. By Thursday the show was open, parking was limited with parking lots closed and a good deal of water standing in spots. Needless to say we had mud, a lot of mud. The wind was strong giving the tent a run for its money pulling the stakes right out of the ground. Before noon we put most everything away and took the tent down; then just sat there in the wind.

The most exciting event was Dave Miller dropping to his knee and proposing the Cheryl Johnston! We were all in shock and began teasing them that maybe there will be a wedding at the Spring Picnic – you never know! Congratulations!!

Even with all of this we ended up with 9 new members, even one from New York! Sales of the raffle tickets and merchandise was very light. I guess this was to be expected for there was not much of a crowd.
A big Thank You to Lynn Smith for he organized a great display – as always – with 23 tractors and implements plus the lawnmowers.

It was time to load up, now into the wet parking lots and through the mud. It was not long before guys were stuck everywhere. So off was Lynn Smith on his 1900 FWA moving all around and onto high dry ground. He made quick work of it and all that wanted to load and leave were on their way quickly.

Thanks to everyone that was there, showed their tractors and implements and played in the “weather”.
Tonia

Our Summer Show at the Mid-Ohio Antique Farm Machinery Show in Richwood July 23-25 is in the books. It was a very nice show with over 100 tractors and implements on display. There was a great variety of tractors for everyone to look at.

This fairgrounds was the perfect setting with many trees giving us a lot of shade over our display. We had two tents set up allowing the merchandise to be in one an the other covered the lawn mower display and plenty of room for a couple of tables and chairs for all the guys to sit and visit and tell their stories.

Friday evening brought the tractor parade through town. I think everyone there was on a tractor and cruised through the parade. The ladies even rode either with their husband’s or on the ATVs and golf carts.

After two days at the show we went to Dennis Baker’s farm for a cookout on Saturday evening. Grilling out burgers and brats and eating ice cream, watermelon and cookies. It was a great time visiting and enjoying our friends.

April 24th will be a spring picnic to remember. After a year of not having any events other than the banquet I was unsure how the picnic would be attended. Well, everyone showed they were ready to be out and show their Oliver spirit. We had a record attendance with 95 people sitting down to eat. Dennis Baker and family along with Phil and Lauren Wheeler had cleaned Dennis’s barn leaving a fabulous area to gather.

His tractors were in the barnyard giving us a great collection to look at. With a couple from Lynn Smith and Phil Wheeler there were nearly 40 exceptional pieces to talk about.

The swap meet was about 12 trucks with all kinds of Oliver parts and pieces to buy, sell and trade. The guys had a great time looking at each others parts and trying to make a deal.

Inside we were selling raffle tickets for the 2 pedal tractors, lighted sign and Oliver 2255 with ROPS toy. Everyone was looking and buying items donated to the Club from the family of the late Karl Schweitzer; one of our founding members and Treasurer.

As we closed in on time to eat we were scrambling to setup more tables and chairs. You know it is going to be a full house when you hear “I’ll get the kitchen chairs”! As all the covered dishes arrived and being placed on the tables I counts around 30 desserts and a total of 48’ of food. It is so exciting to see many husband and wife teams entering the building, she is carrying large containers in each hand and her husband is carrying another. Bringing 3 or 4 covered dishes seems to be the normal.

Larry and I had prepared the pulled pork and chili and picked up the chicken. Once everything was set out there were no worries about having enough to eat. And eat we did for all the dishes were delicious.
After we ate Larry talked about getting back to normal and preparing for this year. Our summer show will be July 23 – 25 at Mid-Ohio Antique Farm Machinery Show in Richwood, Ohio. We will be setting up on Thursday the 22nd and hope to see you and your tractors there. On Saturday the 24th we will return to Dennis Baker’s for a cookout. A map from the fairgrounds to Dennis’s is enclosed. We plan to gather around 6:00 pm and eat shortly thereafter.

Our big fall event will be The Farm Science Review September 21 -23 at the Molly Caren Agricultural Center in London, Ohio. Lynn Smith is organizing the tractor display so please contact his if you are interested in bringing a tractor.

All in all this was the best picnic we have ever had with friends, stories and memories all being made and shared. We added 8 new members, even one from Pennsylvania and had visitors from Indiana.
Thanks to everyone who was able to attend,
Tonia Elliott

The November 7, 2020 fall banquet ended up being our only event of the year and it turned out to be a nice one. We had rented two rooms in anticipation that we would over fill one. It turned out that the double room allowed us to spread out and everyone was comfortable. The Der Dutchman had upgraded their video equipment with 4 big screens for the slide show that ran all day.

As everyone came in they could visit and stay socially distanced, as we had not seen each other since last year. The club merchandise was set up for anyone who was interested. This year we had a silent auction of a dozen items donated by the board members. Everyone had a great time looking and bidding throughout the day. It is always fun to watch everyone bidding whey they really want something.
We ate a good meal and Larry began the meeting. He expressed his disappointment of everything being cancelled this year, then thanked all for coming out for the day. We had 60 in attendance. Larry announced that without activities this year the board decided to postpone the raffle until next year.

He announced that all dues paid for 2020 would be applied to 2021.

Larry talked about how we need to change our events to more outdoors to keep everyone safer and healthier. It was exciting to hear we have summer shows scheduled for the next 5 years.
It was time for the Lifetime Achievement Award. For the board this was an easy decission. When you have a family – 3 families – that have had Oliver’s since their youth; have grown together, collected together and traveled together you know them as 3. Where one is you will probably find the other two. Congratulations Don, Bob and Larry Kopp.

The banquet closed with the silent auction. One more time for bidding then Larry, Jan and Lynn called out the winners. What a fun time.
Here’s looking for a normal and better 2021!

Tonia Elliott