FUTURE RED POWER ROUNDUPS

[766 Man]

14 minutes ago, 39farmalla said:

Ok, now how do you become a member?

  Contact the national chapter in your state.

[Dirt_Floor_Poor]

18 hours ago, 12_Guy said:

You can’t force people to do something they don’t want to do or can’t do for some reason. 

Most of the tractors ARE there until noon at least. A FEW do leave on Friday evening or Saturday morning but most are still there. 

As for taking off days in two different weeks, it can be an issue with employers scheduling. At best you loose any overtime you worked the other 4 days of the week. For example if you work 4-10 hour days and take off Friday, you get 40 hours of regular pay and 8 hours of vacation pay. If you had worked 4-10’s and an 8 on Friday you would be paid 8 hours at your overtime rate. To do that 2 weeks in a row stinks. 

I can assure you that no one is actively trying to make it difficult for people to attend. If you are sooo desperate to get people to attend on Saturday, I suggest that you get active in your local chapter, convince them to submit a bid for a Round Up, promote your Round Up dates, venue, and other attributes and get awarded the bid. Then the real work will just be beginning. 
Most of you guys bellyaching about this issue have absolutely zero idea of what is required to host a show of this magnitude. I’d be willing to bet that most of you aren’t even involved in your local show. A show that is in the same location and time that it has been for years. Those shows are comparatively easy. RPRU is essentially a new show at a new location every year. Quit b******* and start helping. Otherwise be very thankful for the show we are blessed to have and the people who worked so hard to make it happen. 

I find telling people, “That’s a great idea, you can be in charge of that.” almost guarantees you’ll never hear any more about it. 

[mike newman]

..how about one in California ??

..it would save about 2000 miles for us down under...!!!!

Mike

[Ihfan4life]

8 hours ago, 766 Man said:

  Pennsylvania or Ohio happens once every several years.  Sometimes both happens within a couple of years of another.  As I understand it labor is the stumbling block for NY as volunteers are far from sufficient to do the setup and cleanup from an event.  Some concern was had about sufficient lodging but with a probability of going in the Finger Lakes that puts Rochester and Syracuse fairly close.  Concern was also had about the lack of indoor space and even with the recent additions the Pageant of Steam facility in Canandaigua, NY may not be up to national standards.  A New England state would be a good idea but probably has similar drawbacks to what faces NY.  State chapters such as South Dakota and Missouri are well prepared to handle such events and are a reason why they get prime consideration.  To make people happy on the West Coast and deep South maybe consideration should be given to two RPRU events annually so more people could have it close to home.  Maybe make the Mississippi River the dividing line between a east show and west show.  Make the events seperate by a month to lessen strain on the national level in terms of people and resources.  West event could happen like normal in late June and east event would happen in late July.  

Late July gets into fair time. I think it would be hard to find a suitable venue in the east at that time. September gets into harvest time again. You’re pretty much limited to June. IMO

A southern venue would be nice, but the nasty roads if held in the winter months would deter a lot of collectors from bringing stuff. Maybe an October venue would remedy that issue…? 
 

[Lazy WP]

9 minutes ago, Ihfan4life said:

Maybe an October venue would remedy that issue…

October is the heart of corn and bean harvest around here. You just have to pick a date and hope for the best. 

[drglinski]

31 minutes ago, Lazy WP said:

October is the heart of corn and bean harvest around here. You just have to pick a date and hope for the best. 

No one from the Midwest would attend for that reason. 

[766 Man]

2 hours ago, Ihfan4life said:

Late July gets into fair time. I think it would be hard to find a suitable venue in the east at that time. September gets into harvest time again. You’re pretty much limited to June. IMO

A southern venue would be nice, but the nasty roads if held in the winter months would deter a lot of collectors from bringing stuff. Maybe an October venue would remedy that issue…? 
 

  Carnivals, festivals, and fairs are already going by mid-June in New York.  It just is not possible to please all of the people all of the time.  I understand the initial objectives of the national organization in terms of where they thought shows should occur but it seems like they are stuck in a 10 or 12 state rut and really are not interested in getting pulled out of that rut because it pulls attention away from the Midwest.  Time is moving forward and to maintain membership levels in the national organization they are going to have to think about cultivating members outside of the Midwest.  BTW county fairs run 5-7 days so that leaves a very substantial part of July to plan another event.  Most county fairgrounds are not large enough to hold a RPRU event so no worries with those counties.  County fairs are spread out in terms of calendar dates so nobody gets overshadowed.  In New York you would be talking about the counties with large populations that presumably have large fairgrounds.  But before we get to worrying about that it has been repeatedly noted that the labor is not there in terms of setup and clean up but a person can still dream about a time when those problems are solved.  New York aside I think it would help if events could happen in places in California and the deep South and the two show per year format is the way to do it.  Might bruise some egos in the Midwest as nobody could say they had the one and only show for a given year.  

[Big Bud guy]

41 minutes ago, 766 Man said:

  Carnivals, festivals, and fairs are already going by mid-June in New York.  It just is not possible to please all of the people all of the time.  I understand the initial objectives of the national organization in terms of where they thought shows should occur but it seems like they are stuck in a 10 or 12 state rut and really are not interested in getting pulled out of that rut because it pulls attention away from the Midwest.  Time is moving forward and to maintain membership levels in the national organization they are going to have to think about cultivating members outside of the Midwest.  BTW county fairs run 5-7 days so that leaves a very substantial part of July to plan another event.  Most county fairgrounds are not large enough to hold a RPRU event so no worries with those counties.  County fairs are spread out in terms of calendar dates so nobody gets overshadowed.  In New York you would be talking about the counties with large populations that presumably have large fairgrounds.  But before we get to worrying about that it has been repeatedly noted that the labor is not there in terms of setup and clean up but a person can still dream about a time when those problems are solved.  New York aside I think it would help if events could happen in places in California and the deep South and the two show per year format is the way to do it.  Might bruise some egos in the Midwest as nobody could say they had the one and only show for a given year.  

Midwest is annoyingly sometimes the epic center of attention. Thats why whenever someone suggests the 5 millionth 1066 should be moved to the midwest out of FT Benton I shout them down.  They can travel across the US if they want to see it just like I would have to if I wanted to see any major show back east.   

[Big Bud guy]

3 hours ago, Ihfan4life said:

Late July gets into fair time. I think it would be hard to find a suitable venue in the east at that time. September gets into harvest time again. You’re pretty much limited to June. IMO

 

 

2 hours ago, drglinski said:

No one from the Midwest would attend for that reason. 

  

You guys realize Husker Harvest Days and the Farm Progress show occur during September and last time I checked they attract a small city worth of attendees

 

[766 Man]

4 minutes ago, Big Bud guy said:

Midwest is the epic center of attention. Thats why whenever someone suggests the 5 millionth 1066 should be moved to the midwest out of FT Benton I shout them down.  They can travel across the US if they want to see it just like I would have to if I wanted to see any major show back east.   

  Personally, they can do as they see fit.  I'm not the type to hold my breath in a fit when I don't get my way.  But I am not most people and most people need their egos massaged around the clock.  In my mind in giving honest advice if the national organization wants to maintain a certain count of people they are going to have to look further as people get too old or die off in the Corn Belt.  Yes, there will be some younger people that will want to join but there will be others who came off of the farm who have no intention of maintaining interest in farm equipment.  Interest in farm equipment nationally is going one way and that is not towards growing.

[Bermuda_Ken]

Since the show is moved every year and run by different groups...enforcing a no leave early policy is kinda tough...  I attend a well know National show and they have a "no leave early policy"  The show is Fri-Sat-Sunday ending at 2pm.  If you pack/leave early you wont get a contract for the next year.   It states so in your exhibitor contract.  Pretty simple.

I've been THE person for the Roundup (#2) once long ago and its hard to please everyone. Some left early due to travel time to get back home, I had some others (locals) show up the last day of the show with good IH stuff that some of the "bailers" later commented they never saw....well DUH!! ...because you left early!!  Had a couple others looking for a certain vendor(s) that had left early too...They weren't happy. Chalk it up for a loss to the missing vendors.

If the roundup was only a 1 day show...would exhibitors/vendors leave at noon???

Maybe a way to retain vendors/exhibitors might be to have a drawing at the END of the show for something EVERYONE there could use.  A prepaid fuel card.  You gotta be present to win, so if you leave early you loose. I know with the expense of hauling, travelling ect. to shows if my fuel bill was FREE....THAT sure would help and I'd definitely go back!!

 

[Bermuda_Ken]

On 6/27/2026 at 8:07 PM, Dan Robinson said:

 

Take this pic for what its worth...

Also sounded like lots of other show politics going on but we will leave that for another day...

What's the 411 on this????

[bitty]

On 6/28/2026 at 12:05 PM, 766 Man said:

  Pennsylvania guys do not make out bad over the course of several years running.  There is either a RPRU in Pennsylvania or Ohio and sometimes both.  Six hours would be on the long side.  For me to go to Bloomsburg, PA would take around 5 hours from driveway to driveway.  I'd like one in my home state of NY but due to issues such as labor it is quite unlikely we will have one.  As to shows it is hard to escape the stubborn factor or bully factor when it comes to exhibitors.  But sometimes exhibitors are caught between two shows and have to spread the load out as best as possible so they can meet their financial goals which have become much more difficult in recent years.  

 

On 6/28/2026 at 7:22 PM, 766 Man said:

  I wish that RPRU would come back East soon.  

I agree but don't see a current possibility until we find a different set of torch carriers. 

14 hours ago, 39farmalla said:

So what does it take to be able to display at RPRU 2027?

Do you have to be a member of a chapter?

Let me know please

Thanks Sam

I'm not sure what their rule is but it was national membership to display the time I was involved in the Bloomsburg show (2019) . That is required I think from the national IHCC rules to get insurance 

5 hours ago, Ihfan4life said:

Late July gets into fair time. I think it would be hard to find a suitable venue in the east at that time. September gets into harvest time again. You’re pretty much limited to June. IMO

A southern venue would be nice, but the nasty roads if held in the winter months would deter a lot of collectors from bringing stuff. Maybe an October venue would remedy that issue…? 
 

If we could get a younger set of chapter leaders and tried to get another show I would doubt that we can do a different time than mid to late June here . Bloomsburg is the only fairgrounds within the area that our bulk of members is that is big enough or close enough. It's an hour and 15 minutes from my house. In 2019 we were making second cutting that week and I drove both ways 7 times in 6 days.

Attendance can vary greatly because of weather or lack of weather. In '19 many I knew that farm couldn't get there because it was the first week of good weather that spring . I've only made it to two national shows , Wisconsin Union Grove show in 2016 and the Bloomsburg show in 2019 . Saturday seemed to be a drop off time for attendees and the vendors seem to get ready to go in response to the lack of people walking around. Anyone displaying a tractor is all voluntary and is difficult to force someone to volunteer to do something. Another thing that is noticable is the vendors start selling out of certain things by Saturday and there is less things to look at and buy at the parts booths. I'm pretty sure everyone taking things to sell want to sell out of everything rather than haul it back home again. 

Our feature tractors was 40/60 series (140-660 etc) and we tried to get all models for those displays to be there every day. I remember a few trucks loading up their tractors early Saturday afternoon .  I remember seeing that they had Midwest plates and I was grateful to have them bring them for the time they did . Saturday was the main day I actually spent the little bit of time I was able to getting through a little bit of the displays. Only other time I saw display was driving the barrel train through the grounds. 

I too wish we could get another show in the North East. Closest to it in near future for me is the show the weekend after Labor Day the Nittany valley antique? show is featuring IH this fall and chapel 17 was asked to host the IH tractors because of our close proximity to the show. 

[Dan Robinson]

22 hours ago, 39farmalla said:

Ok, now how do you become a member?

You can either contact the national IH club to get a membership, your local state chapter, which generally includes the national membership also.

Or pull into the next RPRU show, walk up to registration, register your piece of equipment and pay $20. Call it an exhibitor fee if you want, but its not really that. Its a one year membership to IHCC, you get a year subscription to Harvestor Highlights, also covered up the shows insurance for that RPRU.

[nepoweshiekfarmalls]

When Iowa hosted the show in Spencer in 24, we were going with a 4 day show (Thursday-Sunday). We planned for a banquet on Friday night. We wanted to have a church service on Sunday morning and the national meeting at 1 PM to try and keep exhibits in place on Saturday.   The national board shot us down.  That meeting was to be held on Saturday come h*** or high water.  (Sad pun now...)  So, new ideas are attempted,  but will never be allowed.  Maybe the state chapters need to ask for forgiveness instead of permission........

[whweldit]

I may never get to see one but I can still have ideas and opinions.  If it is advertised as thur - Saturday then if I show up at mid day on Saturday it should be in full swing.  If it is advertised as thur - til Saturday noon then I know not to get there late on Saturday morning.  I realize it takes a lot of effort to transport tractors, exhibits and parts/vendor items.  Also understand that anyone can load up and leave when they want to.  If those that left early were penalized by not being allowed to register again for 5 years could be an incentive to stay another 3 hours or so. 

[bitty]

1 hour ago, whweldit said:

 Also understand that anyone can load up and leave when they want to.  If those that left early were penalized by not being allowed to register again for 5 years could be an incentive to stay another 3 hours or so. 

I can see many if penalized to never show up again reducing the size of future shows . I can see instead of making Saturday better making the rest of the show similar to Saturday afternoon. Just my opinion

[766 Man]

35 minutes ago, bitty said:

I can see many if penalized to never show up again reducing the size of future shows . I can see instead of making Saturday better making the rest of the show similar to Saturday afternoon. Just my opinion

  Yep, never underestimate the stubborn factor with people.  

[12_Guy]

20 hours ago, Bermuda_Ken said:

Since the show is moved every year and run by different groups...enforcing a no leave early policy is kinda tough...  I attend a well know National show and they have a "no leave early policy"  The show is Fri-Sat-Sunday ending at 2pm.  If you pack/leave early you wont get a contract for the next year.   It states so in your exhibitor contract.  Pretty 

 

Unless you’re forgotten, the exhibitors are strictly voluntary. They are not obliged to stay any longer than they wish. Not sure what “National show “ you’re referring to. Possibly the greenie wennie expo? From what I understand it’s by invitation only so the rules are different. 

 

7 hours ago, bitty said:

I can see many if penalized to never show up again reducing the size of future shows . I can see instead of making Saturday better making the rest of the show similar to Saturday afternoon. Just my opinion

Bitty is exactly right on this one!

 

6 hours ago, 766 Man said:

  Yep, never underestimate the stubborn factor with people.  

It’s not about being stubborn. Would you exhibit at an event whose mandated departure time was a conflict with your personal life. I thought not. 
 

I really don’t see this as a big problem. Sure a FEW exhibits have left by noon on Saturday but it is the last day and the early departure of some is well documented here. Get there early and beat the heat and enjoy the show.
 

Those who said that there wasn’t anything to see or do quite obviously didn’t get there before noon. 

[lotsaIHCs]

The internet says RPRU usually draws about 15,000 to 20,000 people. Does that sound about right? I would have thought it would be at least double that. I'm just trying to get the feel for the size of the show since I've never been to one.

[ray54]

From way over out of the way, most suggestions have merit. But so do the rebuttals. 

Not knowing anything about the show until I found this site 15 or 16 years ago. How long of a history is there?  A guess it started when the tractor collecting community was almost all farmers. So the traditions of today, had reasons started by those who farmed full time, to make their live easier.

To continue the show into the future, does consideration need to be made to appeal to crowd of on lookers, or the exhibitors?

 

How many exhibitors are full time farmers?

How many exhibitors have a 40 hour a week job (or more ) ? 

Have these numbers changed greatly over the years.

😉  Hard to call a gathering of old tractors a show, if there are no people coming to see them. 🤔 But why go to a show with nothing to see.😵‍💫 Just things that cannot be forgotten and still be successful. My prayers for wisdom to those in charge.

 

The Best of the West show in my back yard does Fri, Sat, and Sunday. But on Memorial Day weekend so Monday is a holiday too.  I know Sunday is much less of a crowd than Friday. But not aware of exhibits leaving Sunday morning. But I have never been on a Sunday.

[Powered by IH]

2 hours ago, lotsaIHCs said:

The internet says RPRU usually draws about 15,000 to 20,000 people. Does that sound about right? I would have thought it would be at least double that. I'm just trying to get the feel for the size of the show since I've never been to one.

Depends on the show. Nebraska-2024 was definitely a bigger crowd than Huron this year. 20,000 seems on the upper end, 10-15,000 might be a better estimate per se. Just my thoughts.

It also depends on the fairgrounds. Nebraska was a lot more crowded than Huron was, so that might be a part of it too.

[lotsaIHCs]

1 hour ago, Powered by IH said:

Depends on the show. Nebraska-2024 was definitely a bigger crowd than Huron this year. 20,000 seems on the upper end, 10-15,000 might be a better estimate per se. Just my thoughts.

It also depends on the fairgrounds. Nebraska was a lot more crowded than Huron was, so that might be a part of it too.

Ok, thanks! I was trying to get an idea of how big an event it is. The car show that was held in Mandan ND a couple of weeks ago runs from Friday evening until Sunday at about 5pm. It includes live music, a street dance, cruise night, parade, vendors etc. It usually draws about 35,000 to 40,000 attendees and around 500 show entries plus vendors and entertainment. I'm trying to imagine how one might compare to the other in terms of the size of the event.

[lotsaIHCs]

6 minutes ago, lotsaIHCs said:

Double post

 

[12_Guy]

Something else to consider about crowd size is the weekend pass. Do they count as 1 or 3 for the weekend pass? If you count them as 3, can you be sure that they stayed for all three days? I’m not sure what the standard protocol is for counting them. It’s something my local show struggles with when trying to calculate attendance. We sell a lot of weekend wristbands for our 4 day event but we also know that there is no way to know how many people are there all four days.