Antique tractor display draws visitors at Nebraska State Fair

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (KOLN) - An antique tractor display at the Nebraska State Fair features farm tractors from across the state, according to Nebraska State Fair Antique Tractor Coordinator David Zumbrum.

Zumbrum said the display includes tractors that could pull a two-bottom plow, tractors that could pull a three-bottom plow, and even 1066-type tractors that were designed to pull a four-bottom plow.

The tractors come from owners across Nebraska, including North Platte, Beatrice and the York area, Zumbrum said.

Zumbrum said he had his father’s 1936 B John Deere tractor. After retiring 18 years ago, he began building a Farmall M tractor collection, which includes one from every year between 1939 and 1952, along with about a dozen additional M tractors. He said his collection also includes H’s, Super H’s, and Super MTA’s.

Zumbrum said the tractors are located near the big red barn on the Nebraska State Fairgrounds, with tractors displayed on the west end and the east end of the barn. About 200 feet east of the barn, roughly 60 more tractors are displayed near a white tent, he said.

Zumbrum said many visitors have a personal connection to the tractors. “It’s quite interesting because most people, either grandpa had one, or their dad had one, or their uncle had one, or their brother had one, or maybe he had 20 of them. We don’t lack people that we can visit with,” he said.

Zumbrum said he is a rectal cancer survivor and designed a tractor to raise funds for the Cancer Society. He painted the tractor pink and blue, with dark blue representing rectal cancer awareness.

Zumbrum said he asks visitors to put their name on the tractor with a $5 donation. At the end of the state fair, he sends the accumulated donations to the Cancer Society, he said.

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