The Edwards family open house has been an ongoing event in Franklin, IL for quite some time. Originally the event occurred on July 4th, in companion with the village’s festivities. Last year the family changed the date to Labor day weekend because of conflict with other “tractor” events happening during Independence Day.
The event is held at Jim’s house, located west of Franklin on IL Route 104. The tractor collection is quite extensive, including John Deere, Oliver, International Harvester, and rare prewar Chrysler powered tractors. The exact number in the family collection is still not assured. Tractors seem to come and go continually.
Fellow writer / blogger Cindy Ladage was in attendance this year. Jessica Basford, which is an amazing photographer in her own right, was also attending. The ladies have graciously agreed to help with this article by allowing me to feature their photographs. Thank you ladies for your talented skills in sharing the sights of the day
This 1934 Hart Parr and Oliver Superior drill was a popular photograph opportunity. I like the different perspective each of the ladies discovered
Some of the tractors didn’t make it out into the sunshine this year. They were either being troublesome or intentionally left so people would discover them hidden away. Ive been to other open house displays set like that and it left a impression of mischief and discovery. It was a sense of going “behind the scenes” Personally, I’m more use to the museum building being full.
Sunday, September 6, was overall a relaxing day. It was a great time to visit with friends of common interests. There wasn’t much interest in using the braker fan this year. A guest brought a AC WD-45 that Doug tested on the Dyno though
Pictures say many words, I want to thank my fellow artists for helping me share this story. Cindy, Jessica, and Corey helped make this article that much better.
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