VIENNA — After a year’s hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Antique Tractor Club of Trumbull County had to deal with a little mud Saturday during its 26th annual show.

Club officials had to call off Saturday’s tractor parade because of the conditions, which included a small pond in the middle of the area where the featured antique Allis-Chalmers brands were usually displayed. A Thursday rainstorm that dumped about 2.5 inches of rain in a 40-minute period at the nearby airport also affected the Ridge Road club grounds.

The three-day tractor fair concludes today with a full schedule of events and club officials were hopeful that another sunny day forecast will dry out the grounds.

At least club President Lyle Bertram of Southington said he hasn’t had to use his 1958 John Deere 520 model tractor to pull out vehicles from the mud, like he had to do during the recent rain-filled Trumbull County Fair.

“I was head to toe in mud, but the 63-year-old tractor had to be thanked for having a happy day,” Bertram said about his vehicle that didn’t use a drop of oil in hauling the vehicles that day.

Bertram said he has been collecting antiques, including a 1947 Allis- Chalmers G series, a 1948 John Deer H and 1961 Farmall Cub, as a hobby. He was inspired by his father, who was a dairy farmer in upstate New York.

“I used to milk about 2,000 gallons every other day,” Bertram said about his chores on the farm that contained 200 head of cattle.

Another club member who also got his farming start in New York state is club Vice President Ray Carr of Champion, who was showing two Allis- Chalmers tractors, 1939 and 1946 WC models. Carr said he wouldn’t mind if the tractors started going around the grounds in the mud.

“I will be here tomorrow and if they chew up the grass, we’ll be here to clean it up,” Carr said.

The Antique Tractor Club contains about 170 members, Carr said, but new members are welcome at the monthly meetings held at 7 p.m. the fourth Tuesday of each month at the club grounds on Ridge Road, weather permitting.

Carr said the club uses the show as a fundraiser between the $5 admissions, the food concessions and the Chinese auction, which will continue today inside the barn.

A longtime farmer in Mahoning County, Bob Kacir of Lowellville was walking the grounds checking out the tractors. Kacir said he wasn’t showing any tractors but handled a few old-fashioned mowers in his day on his 35-acre hay farm located at the corner of Oak Street Extension and state Route 616 in Coitsville Township.

Kacir said his land has been hit with lots of water by the torrential summer rains.

“It’s the most that I have seen in the summer in my whole life,” Kacir said. “I could not even make one bale of hay.”

Al Walker of Hubbard said he remembered using some of those tractors displayed growing up on his father’s farm in Butler County, Pa.

“Yes, I was a son of a farmer and a coal miner,” Walker said.

Walker said his farm- boy days were cut short when he joined the U.S. Army, becoming one of the first troops to fight in the Korean War in the early 1950s.

Providing entertainment at the stage Saturday afternoon was singer Denise Starr of Champion. Starr, who said she had to cancel about 60 dates last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, said she has one more date this summer. For her more than an hour set, Starr covered a wide variety of popular hits from Dolly Parton to Fats Domino, with a few Gospel favorites thrown in.

“I do most of my singing in my church at Wildare United Methodist,” Starr laughed.

When Starr’s set was over, Catherine Reid of Transfer, Pa., said she would be taking over the music duties at the stage, playing CDs of more oldies hits.

“For the last five years, I’ve been producing the background music for this show,” she said.

Accompanying Reid was another “farm boy,” Charlie Brown of Hubbard, a club member who said he has sold most of his antiques over the last few years.

“We liked to put them in parades in the area,” Brown said.

If you go …

The Antique Tractor Club of Trumbull County presents its 26th annual Antique Tractor Show.

TODAY

8 a.m. to 10 a.m. — Breakfast

9 a.m. — Church service led by Ed Agler

10 a.m. to noon — Gospel music by Saving Grace band

Noon — Parade of Power

1 p.m. — Ground Pounders

Admission is $5.