Tractor Parade Mixes Farm Machinery at its Finest with Communal Spirit at its “Funnest”
by Edd Merritt

Seventy-six trombones marching up Broadway is small potatoes compared to the East Charlotte Tractor Parade. This year 124 machines lined up in Dave Nichols’ field, fired up their engines on Mike Cook’s command and headed north on Spear Street to Baptist Corners along the road lined by adoring fans. It was the eighth consecutive year that Carrie Spear and her “Tractor Ladies” – June Bean, Debbie Christie, Cindy Bradley, Margaret Roddy, Emily Sheehan and Sonya Kemp – have sponsored this annual harvest-time event. Each year has grown richer in audience appeal with an expanding array of tractors, ranging from gigantic John Deeres to the smaller lawn variety Cub Cadets. Again, there were vintage models (at least one dating back nearly 75 years) to modern techno-tractors, air-conditioned for the driver’s comfort and as computerized as the barn at Nordic Farms.
With the parade scheduled for 1p.m. Sunday afternoon, few roadside seats remained available half an hour before the machines began to roll. Eagle County Radio was broadcasting from Spear’s corner, inviting listeners to come and check out the festivities.
It was a gorgeous October afternoon with color in the leaves brilliant under a bright sun and nearly cloudless sky. The more than 1,000 people who gathered in East Charlotte had traveled from near and far. A couple from western Colorado was visiting Vermont for the first time, and the parade had piqued their curiosity. A tractor buff himself, the husband said he was curious to see how New England machines compared to those from the Rocky Mountain states.
Once again, the Reverend Will Burhans and Father David Cray from Charlotte’s two churches marshaled the parade. The Silver Leviathan Band pumped the crowd’s spirits with high-stepping music. And the march of machines began. Aficionados in the crowd could be heard to say that they remembered seeing “that red one daily in dad’s fields” or, as our former state representative Dennis Delaney commented as he drove past in his Case, “Where else can a kid like me drive a tractor these days?” He followed with a gleeful blast of his horn. Very few dared to whisper that they had been in a tractor seat once too often for their liking.
Green was a favored color, although not necessarily a sure bet as a Deere. A sign on an Oliver model read, “I’m the other green one.”
Many machines had youngsters on parents’ laps looking happy and proud to be sitting behind the steering wheels. One infant, however, apparently non-plussed by the event, chose to sleep soundly as dad’s exhaust pipe spluttered quietly past the Grange Hall.
Governor Douglas and his wife, Dprptj, viewed the parade from Spear’s parking lot, chatting informally and shaking hands with many passers-by. Although visible, the governor seemed comfortable setting aside politics for the moment in favor of simply partaking in the communal atmosphere and enjoying the comfortable weather.
Across from Baptist Corners the “corn box” (a modified sand box) and the “Calf Kissing Booth” were big hits with the younger set. A parent was heard to pronounce that corn kernels would become her filler of choice in any future “sand boxes.” “It’s so much cleaner,” she said, “and the kids are enthralled. Mine have been in that box for hours.” It was suggested that children be shaken upside down when finished.
The “kissing calf’s” owner said the animal was amazingly patient for one so young. The calf graciously accepted hugs and kisses from a seemingly endless line of youngsters. The owner hoped the young Holstein’s easy-going temperament would carry over into her later milk-giving years.
In addition to many local tractor drivers, this year’s group came from around Vermont, New England and New York. The Champlain islands were well represented. Several machines rode the ferry across Lake Champlain; other drivers announced they were from Massachusetts and happy to be here.
In its eighth year, the event has grown annually. Thirty more tractors lined up this year than last.
By 4 p.m. many had started their engines and left the green, heading for home. However, 20 drivers and friends felt one last spin around the block was in order as they boarded a hay wagon to converse and partake of libation.
Sitting on the front porch of Spear’s Store, June Bean and Julie Christie, two of the parade’s planners, were overheard already discussing what they needed to do in order to prepare for next year.
How better to end a fall afternoon in these troubled times than to join an event that mixed spectacle with camaraderie? Carrie Spear has said she hoped to bring people together to commemorate our community in a way that fuses past with present. It seems to have achieved its purpose this weekend.