Great Eastern Iowa Tractorcade keeps rolling
More than 300 tractors took to the countryside this week
WASHINGTON, Iowa — A rolling agriculture show was on display at the Washington County Fairgrounds on Monday.
The 26th annual Great Eastern Iowa Tractorcade made its home base at the Midwest Old Threshers Reunion grounds in Mount Pleasant for 2025, with day trips from there across five counties in southeast Iowa. Washington was Monday’s lunch stop, followed by Keosauqua on Tuesday, with a half-day to Yarmouth to wrap it up on Wednesday.
At the fairgrounds, Jerry & Margie’s Catering of Riverside sold a meal of broasted chicken — a departure from the typical brats-and-burgers fare — along with coleslaw, hash brown casserole, a roll, four types of pie, and ice cream.
Natalie Joens of Cedar Rapids was a passenger on a 1949 Farmall M. The tractor was gifted to Kevin and Connie Rupp of Ely from Connie’s father, Orville Meyer. It was a working tractor until being retired and restored in 2013. Joens loves the scenery and looking at the tractors. “People are awesome, too, friendly,” she said.
Kevin Rupp said his favorite part of the tractorcade is eating, just like it is when he’s on the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. Unlike RAGBRAI, though, the tractor rides are heavily scheduled, and he misses being able to take a break whenever he wants. “And it’s faster on the bike.”
Right next to the Rupps — by chance, because that’s Iowa for you — was Bill Carlson of Anamosa, who said he rented Meyer’s pasture on the Morley blacktop. He’s a member of a loosely connected group of a dozen or so people called the Wapsi River Tractor Riders. It’s hard to miss his neon yellow jacket, which he wears because “if they’re going to run over me, finish it off the first time.”
Carlson’s vehicle of choice is a 1954 Ford 960, from the first year Ford manufactured row-crop tractors. He bought it about a decade ago and does about 10 rides a year. He’s been to rides from Keystone, Iowa, to Fennimore, Wisconsin, north of Dubuque. The group’s Facebook page keeps up with various tractor rides in its area.
He also invoked Iowa’s bicycle classic: “I tell everyone it’s the farmers’ version of RAGBRAI.”
Around 325 tractors were participating in this year’s ride, organized into six shifts, said Matt Kenney of KXEL-AM 1540 and NRG Media. Kenney left WMT-AM 600, which was the sponsor of the Great Eastern Iowa Tractorcade for the first 25 years, earlier this year, and being able to continue the ride “was the clincher” to switch jobs. “These are all just really great people,” Kenney said of the participants and spectators.
Kenney has an emotional connection to the annual event as well. After his mother died in November, he received a sympathy card from Marengo. He didn’t think he knew anyone in Marengo, but when he opened it, he found a message from eight riders. The fact that someone made the effort to let others know about his mother’s death, buy a card, get signatures, and send it meant a lot to him.
Family connections are an important part of rides like this, Kenney said. People will try to find their old family tractor, he said, because in the postwar era, it likely was the largest purchase their grandpa ever made. With social media and the Internet, it’s possible not only to find the model of tractor, but the tractor.
Kenny Raue of Chelsea wasn’t a driver or a passenger on the tractorcade, but his son Andrew was. Raue was following along with his granddaughter Evelyn, 1½, who he said was enjoying it.
Holly Zahurones, 19, of Baxter was driving a tractorcade rarity — a tractor that’s still in use. Her Farmall/International Harvester 666 runs a grain auger on the farm. She loves the views and places she gets to visit. This was her fourth tractorcade.
Tractor identification plaques spanned the state from Bankston, in Dubuque County, to Winterset, in Madison County, to Hancock, in Pottawattamie County, but interest in the event extends beyond Iowa’s borders.
Dan Keegan of West Palm Beach, Fla., has been bringing his 1948 John Deere B up for this ride since 2013. It was his dad’s tractor, used on peanut farms until its retirement in 2012 and refurbishment for tractor rides. It was on his dad’s bucket list to do a tractorcade, and that goal was accomplished before his death in 2014.
Keegan’s tractor had an uncommon aftermarket accessory — a small food cooker hooked into the engine that warmed up hot dogs.
Michael West of Owensboro, Ky., didn’t have much time to talk — he was in the last line of his flight as it was heading out — but his rave about the tractorcade echoed that of the others: “We just love the countryside, the people.”
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Thanks (?) for making me feel antique, having driven several of the "antique" tractors as a kid!
I LOVE tractor parades. Being in Des Moines, the only ones I get to see are at the Iowa State Fairgrounds during the Fair. They are at random times, so you never know when you will catch one. But if my daughter (my Fair Partner in Crime) or I spy that parade, we yell "Tractor Parade," and run to a spot where we can get a good view. Maybe we can take a road trip sometime to see this. Thanks for the story and photos!