Past Event

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

This November 9th banquet was another great one. We had around 90 in attendance which filled the room. We had some big eaters and it looked like we feed more than 100. Lyn Parker gave another outstanding prayer and we enjoyed the great meal. During the entire banquet there was a slide show running covering the 20 years of the club. It was fun to see all the pictures and memories. Larry opened the meeting with the introductions of the board and they each took their turn at the microphone. As each reflected on their last 3 years we heard some very touching messages and at one point I do not think there was a dry eye in the room. The elections were completed and we started having fun with door prizes being given away throughout the meeting.

Larry presented Jeff Miller with the “Life Time Achievement” award. Jeff was truly speechless. Larry presented the Reilly families – Larry, Suzy, Scott and Stacey – with the “Members of the Year” award. All were surprised.

We finished the meeting by drawing the winners of the raffle. The neon sign was won by Gary Carpenter, the 2 chairs by Curt Gottfried and the 1650 FWA toy by Larry Reilly.

If you missed this event you missed a good one. Everyone went home with a full stomach and a smile on their face.

Tonia

Sept 17, 18 and 19 found Buckeye Oliver Collectors at the BIG SHOW.  If you have ever been to the Farm Science Review you know what I mean.  Outside of London OH a small town is erected devoted to everything agriculture and it is pretty impressive.  If you have been there then you know that at the east end of the show is a large area where the antique tractor clubs have lots of nice machines on display.  And that’s where Buckeye Oliver Collectors had the nicest display of them all. Centered around our big tent, which has turned out to be a good investment, we had 21 tractors, a nice mixture with three high crops, couple of front wheel assists, a Hart Parr, a 66 roller, an HG with cultivators, three tractors with plows attached and one with a mower, five Oliver garden tractors, and 3 pedal tractors.  Inside the tent we had a nice display case with toys, our raffle items, lots of Oliver merchandise which proved to be pretty popular, and a good many chairs which due to the hot sunny weather always had friends sitting in them relaxing with an ice cold bottle of water.  We had a successful three days at FSR.  We started with a grassy field and the set up and tear down doesn’t just happen.  Many thanks and blessings go to all who helped and to those who brought equipment.  The tractors and equipment were displayed by Jim Kline, Dennis Baker, Mark Smith, Lynn Smith, Don Kopp, Bob Kopp, Larry Kopp, Larry Mayer, Bob Kline, Mike Salyers, Steve Guider, Jan Huck, John Parker, Dave Malas, Dave Miller, Melvin Wengerd, Atlee Hershberger, Tom Weaver, Wayne Groweg, Larry Boellner, Bill Reno, and Roger Diehl.  We thank God for the safe travel of all our members who showed up.  As our year winds down we look forward to the Fall Banquet Nov 9^th where we can gather under the sign of OLIVER.

John Gustina

September 7^th was Floyd Hohman’s auction.  The Buckeye Oliver Collectors set up a tent with our raffle, some hats and membership information.  Floyd had a nice collection of tractors, implements and miscellaneous parts and items to be sold.  The crowd was excited and the bidding began.  Throughout the day we sold a good deal of raffle tickets, some hats and two memberships.

Once the auction was over Floyd was happy that people were going to enjoy pieces as they put them into their collection.  Floyd appreciated us being there and supporting his auction.  We had a great time – Thanks to Floyd and his family for letting us participate.

Tonia Elliott

Hot! Hot! Hot! What an understatement for the weekend!

The Oak Ridge Festival and the grounds were perfect for our summer show. Even with the extreme heat and the reported attendance being down by half or more our members and Oliver lovers showed their enthusiasm. We had 56 tractors and a few implements on display. We had visitors that traveled 4 ½ and 6 ½ hours to see our show. Doug Mitchell and his family traveled from Fulton, MI, bringing his pair of 1550 hi-crops – an Oliver and a Cockshutt built 9 numbers apart. This beautifully restored pair was part of our outstanding display. We had a great variety of tractors to look at from an Oliver 60 to a 2255, a roller and a crawler. The sawmill was being powered with an 88, and they were making hay with their Oliver’s. The festival itself had about 130 vendors positioned throughout the woods with their crafts and in their time period attire. You could make a day of it shopping, looking and visiting.

Saturday evening we had a dinner for the members just around the corner at the Attica Fairgrounds. The building was very nice and air-conditioned. Lyn Parker arranged the entire dinner and feed us a great meal. Thanks Lyn! Tom Weaver has an Oliver Hart-Parr radiator shell made into a clock which he had on display. Thanks Tom. We had a silent auction going on during dinner. After dinner Larry closed the auction and started announcing the winners of the items. This became quiet comical as he put his special touches on each item presented from “The drinker of the club” who won the bucket of wine the “this is an empty box” for a NIB toy! This all lead up to the last item – a mystery box. Jan Huck had the winning bid and had to open it in front of everyone. In it was a pair of dinner tickets to the fall banquet, 12 raffle tickets, 2 decals, a bottle of monkey butt powder, a 3XL pair of ladies panties with the club logo on the back, a matching pair of men’s whitie tighties, and the best part – an autographed 8 x 10 picture of Larry – HA! I am sure we will see some of this stuff surface again.

The show may have been slow due to the weather but the tent was full as always. We seen many of our members – health issues or not – come and stay for the afternoon visiting and enjoying themselves. We ended the show with 12 new members signed up. This puts us at a new record of 170 members.
Thanks to everyone who brought their Oliver’s to display, participated and helped make another successful show.

Tonia

The Buckeye Oliver Collectors spring picnic 2019 was hosted by Larry and Suzy Reilly of Norwalk and will be remembered for the weather.  What a beautiful day we had, temps in the seventies with much sunshine; and what a nice well-kept farm our hosts live and work on.  The hard work of the Reilly’s with son Scott and his wife Stacey really show with the appearance of the farm.  But this day also had its share of members under the weather and with a great shop and a place to sit; that is pretty much where Suzy remained.  Those under the weather was are hostess Suzy as she was still recovering from recent knee surgery and daughter-in-law Stacey was hobbled in a walking boot with screws and pins in her foot. Vice President Jan Huck had pulled his back, never a good thing the day before and was moving about slowly but still on his feet. Secretary Bill Yaple arrived sitting in the passenger seat of his truck with wife Jan at the wheel due to having thumb surgery on Friday before the picnic. Fortunately it was his left hand leaving him still able to take the minutes. And to top it all off Tonia Elliott found herself in the hospital on the 2^nd with an appendicitis and was just released on Friday before the picnic. Once she found a comfortable place to sit that’s pretty much where she remained. Three cheers for all because all five were there. This spring picnic was a good success and all the Buckeye Oliver Collectors want to thank the Reilly family for all the preparation and hard work.

Our day started with the parts swap starting at ten and it seemed like more than ten trucks and trailers were there because there was a lot to look at under the sun.  I was happy finding and buying a 550 carb. The Reilly Family has a very nice building full of Olivers including the three beauties and the 50 series from 1550 to a 1950T.  John Parker trucked down his recently completed 1800 with a Cummins engine, it looks like it belongs there; it looked and sounded fine.  Our picnics set a high bar when it comes to food-land that bar was nudged a little higher on this day.  We had a fantastic meal with desserts to please anyone.  If you left hungry – well that’s your fault.  As always dinner is followed by a brief meeting and with Larry keeping us all informed of the clubs summer plans.  Our summer show will be in Attica in July and plans are for the club to all come together and share a meal on Saturday evening.  This is being organized by Lyn Parker.  Plans are for the club to again be at the Farm Science review and a presentation was made for our club to be at a future show.  The conclusion of the meeting brought an end to the day and most heading for the sunshine and warmth of the day.  If you are reading this and have not been to a spring picnic, try to do so as it’s a nice time with Oliver people and honestly I can’t remember a bad picnic.  Enjoy spring and God bless us all.

John Gustina

We attended the Winter show March 22 & 23 in West Lafayette, IN. Our club looked great with our raffle prizes out and the grand prize, a neon sign, light up on its stand where everyone could see it when they came in the room. We sold 198 tickets and signed up 2 new members. At the Presidents meeting Larry was congratulated on our club membership growth and ask what we are doing to have such success. The HPOCA and the other chapters are struggling and numbers are declining.

The Buckeye Oliver Collectors 19th annual banquet was held November 10 at the Der Dutchman in Plain City. The day was filled with excitement as the room was filled with our largest crowd ever, 104 members! Raffle tickets were being sold, door prizes were out and the excitement of seeing old friends flourished. The day was kicked off with Lyn Parker delivering an excellent prayer. Our dinner was again a fine meal and I’m sure everyone ate too much. President Larry started the meeting with his now traditional board member roll call being answered by each coming to the podium and telling us about their year. This has turned from a fear of getting up there to “let to tell you a story”; I think each enjoyed their time talking and I know everyone enjoyed hearing from them. Larry’s messages were all positive for the year with a great picnic, summer show in Greenville and Farm Science Review. He also told us we have a new record membership at 165. Door prizes were given out throughout the meeting. The Life Time Achievement Award was given to Jim McKenzie who was surprised and honored. The Members of the Year went to Don and Joann Kopp for all their exceptional efforts this year; congratulations all! Lastly we draw the raffle winners. The 1st place Purple Pedal tractor was won by Emma Fetter, the 2nd place Mighty Tow tractor was won by Jon Bible and the 3rd place Oliver flag was won by Paul Coonfare. We can’t wait to see what exciting things will be happening in 2019 for our 20th Anniversary year.

The Farm Science Review was held September 18 – 20 at the Molly Caren Agricultural Center in London, OH. The Buckeye Oliver Collectors were last there in 2013 and we were excited to return. Our new lot was excellent with plenty of room to have a great tractor display and our new tent. One of the first things people would say is that they could see our green and white tent from the parking lot and knew it was the BOC area.

Tractors on display were from Jim Kline, Dennis Baker, Mark Smith, Lynn Smith, Bill Yaple, John Parker, Jerry McBride, Ken Lutz, Tom Scothorn, Mike Salyers, John Martin and Wayne Groweg. From the Hart-Parr 70 Orchard to the Oliver 25 Airport tractor to front wheel assists we had a great showing of Olivers tractors; and three Oliver boat motors on display from Larry Elliott. What a great display to look at.

Even though there are things that can be improved on for this show it seemed like the tent area was always full of Oliver enthusiasts and a lot of great tractor conversations and stories being told. While the guys were talking the ladies were busy selling raffle tickets, club merchandise and taking memberships. It is unbelievable the new memberships for this year. This makes for a very exciting time for the club.

Tonia Elliott