Bryce Metzger moves wheat into a belt-driven thrasher during the 46th Annual Harvest Festival & Antique Equipment Show at the Sunset Hill Farm County Park in Valparaiso, Indiana Friday, September 23, 2022. The weekend show features more than 200 antique tractors, farm equipment and other vendors.(Andy Lavalley for the Post-Tribune) (Post-Tribune)

A feast awaits the senses and the nostalgic brain this weekend at the 46th Harvest Festival put on by the Northern Indiana Historical Power Association at Sunset Hill Farm County Park in Valparaiso.

Vintage tractors in red, yellow, and green create a cheery visual parked in big rows against a backdrop of cornfields; a cacophony of chugs, hisses, and hammers ring out; and the smell of wood burning smoke and engine oil fill the nostrils. The term old soul comes to mind when chatting with just about everyone in attendance, regardless of their age.

“We just kind of like the old style feel of everything,” said Austyn Ayres of Lake Station, who, along with his wife, Laura, had brought their 6-month-old baby daughter Gatlynn to the festival Friday morning. “It just makes you feel how much things have changed.”

Roger Wagner, of Constantine, Michigan leads a trio of antique tractors with his 1926 Eagle gas-powered tractor during the 46th Annual Harvest Festival & Antique Equipment Show at the Sunset Hill Farm County Park in Valparaiso, Indiana Friday, September 23, 2022. Organizers expect to feature more the 200 tractors and other antique farm machines during the show. (Andy Lavalley for the Post-Tribune) (Post-Tribune)

That sentiment was on the mind of retired Valparaiso millwright John Gordon as he looked over one of the feature tractors, a 1958 Cockshutt 50 Deluxe. “Can you imagine before this when they had to do this with horses?” he asked NIHPA Acting President Nick Misch who happened to be standing nearby. “The young generation just don’t understand that.”

Misch said it’s part of NIHPA’s mission to change that. He grew up visiting his maternal grandfather’s farm in Wanatah east of Valparaiso, just off U.S. 30. “I remember very vividly riding in a combine with my grandpa picking corn,” Misch said.

A variety of farm implements besides tractors are on display and operating this weekend. Small engines used to run cream separators, milking equipment, washing machines and even oil field equipment line one side of the grounds.

Tyler Kester, of Crete, Illinois, pilots his 1/3 scale Case steam-powered traction engine during the opening day of the 46th Annual Harvest Festival & Antique Equipment Show at the Sunset Hill Farm County Park in Valparaiso, Indiana Friday, September 23, 2022. Kester’s other antique farm equipment are in the background. (Andy Lavalley for the Post-Tribune) (Post-Tribune)

Dustin Dunham, of Kouts, is a third-generation small engine aficionado. “I started going with my grandpa when I was real little,” he said, pointing out his dad and granddad in photos taken on the very same grounds decades before.

Dunham brought a 6-horse Fairbanks-Morse Model Z throttle-governing engine “more like a car from the ‘70s” and Economy and Jaeger hit and miss engines. “They were made to save fuel,” he explained.

The family thread is a common one for those displaying at the fest. The King family from Morgan Township took a break from threshing wheat next to their 1939 John Deere threshing machine that can be used for small grains like wheat, oats, and barley.

Three-year-old Blake Huisinga leads the way as his mom and dad Kristin and Brad try to keep up while pushing 1-year-old Brock as they look over some of the nearly 200 tractors on display at the 46th Annual Harvest Festival & Antique Equipment Show at the Sunset Hill Farm County Park in Valparaiso, Indiana Friday, September 23, 2022. (Andy Lavalley for the Post-Tribune) (Post-Tribune)

“It would be a community event because everybody would come together and that’s where they got the threshing tables for the dinners,” said Stacy King. Her husband Brad still does a little farming, but his approach nowadays is “a little bit more modern.”

“We still get the old tractors out and play a little bit,” he said. The Kings have been attending the fest for 21 years.

Brad’s uncle Rod King said it takes about 45 minutes to thresh a wagonload of wheat. The Kings will be giving threshing demonstrations throughout the weekend. Across the field from them, Dan Kester from Grant Park, Illinois, is part of the steam engine crowd.

Kester has a ⅓-scale model of a 110-horse Case steam engine from the teens of the last century. The real thing would have run about $2,000 to $2,500 without add-ons like canopies or wood storage bins.

Kenny Pass, left, of Wanatah, Indiana leans on a 1947 CO-OP tractor while speaking with Rick Lute, of LaPorte, Indiana during the 46th Annual Harvest Festival & Antique Equipment Show at the Sunset Hill Farm County Park in Valparaiso, Indiana Friday, September 23, 2022. (Andy Lavalley for the Post-Tribune) (Post-Tribune)

In the background a 65-horse 1921 Case was blowing its whistle. “You blow the whistle before you start the work so no one’s at the blade,” he said. He said the amount of horsepower may not sound like much compared to a modern vehicle but since these engines run a lot slower they create an incredible amount of torque that was used to operate saw mills, threshing machines and the like.

Besides the vintage machinery, the festival features blacksmiths from Smoke Road Forge in Valparaiso. Rod Marvel of Valparaiso and Josh Thompson of Portage were busy making a supply of Frederick’s Crosses to sell over the weekend. They demonstrated a variety of blacksmithing techniques, including tapering, drawing out, firing in their propane forge, and hammering on anvils bolted to whimsical tree trunks that look like something out of “Little Red Riding Hood.”

Mark Payne uses a 1953 John Deere 60 model tractor to harvest corn during the 46th Annual Harvest Festival & Antique Equipment Show at the Sunset Hill Farm County Park in Valparaiso, Indiana Friday, September 23, 2022. Payne, of Valparaiso, is a board member for the Northwest Indiana Historical Power Association. (Andy Lavalley for the Post-Tribune)2 (Post-Tribune)

The Cedar Lake Farmers Market, an antique car and truck show, food trucks, and flea market booths are all part of the festivities Saturday and Sunday.

If you go: The Harvest Festival runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, Sept. 22 through 24 at Sunset Hill Farm County Park, 775 Meridian Road, Valparaiso, IN 46385. A $5 donation is suggested.

Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.