By JARED ORZOLEK

orzolek@crescent-news.com

NAPOLEON -- Some of the rarest antique farming equipment in the country will be on display later this week at the 63rd annual National Threshers Association Reunion.

The event will take place Thursday through Sunday at the Fulton County Fairgrounds, located off Ohio 108 north of Wauseon.

Billed as the country's oldest event of its kind, the show features all types of unique and rare farm equipment on display, including International Harvester Equipment and Port Huron steam engines.

"We are the oldest organized steam show," said David Schramm, president of the National Threshers Association, adding that equipment will be on display which dates back to the late 1800s.

"Most everything was invented back in those days. They have just improved it since then," he noted.

One local man who will display farm equipment at the show is Jim Sugg of Holgate, who said he plans to take his 1948 Farmall W-9 tractor to the event.

Sugg said he obtained the four-cylinder gas engine tractor close to 10 years ago. He then restored the machine and added it to his collection of antique tractors.

The tractor, which was the largest model produced by Farmall, was used on the wheat fields of Kansas before it was purchased by Sugg.

"It was not popular around here. It was used in the bigger farms in the West," Sugg said.

Sugg's piece will be displayed at the reunion, which was first organized in 1944 on a farm in Alvordton by thresher Leroy Baker.

Schramm said various demonstrations will take place, including grain threshing and plowing.

"We will have spark shows with steam engines. It's our form of fireworks. It's pretty impressive after dark," Schramm said, adding that thousands of people will come from all over the United States and abroad to attend the event.

Daily events at the show include a display of more than 40 working steam engines powering a sawmill, plus threshing machines, a veneer mill, hundreds of tractors, old machinery and antique trucks.

Food, flea markets, crafts and band concerts will also be part of the reunion, as will special activities like a fiddler's contest on Friday evening, a kiddie tractor pull on Saturday at 1 p.m., church service on Sunday and an antique tractor pull on Sunday afternoon.

Schramm said it takes a lot of effort to restore and maintain the antique steam engines, tractors and other equipment that will be displayed at the show.

"There is some hard work involved. You have to have help to restore and maintain your equipment," he said. "When you get the job done, it's a sense of accomplishment."

Daily admission is $5, children age 12 and under are admitted free with adult admission.

Thursday is old timer's day as those 65 and over get in for $2.

A National Threshers Association membership of $7 provides free admission and a badge.

For more information, visit, www.nationalthreshers.com.