AGRICULTURE SHOW HAS DEEP ROOTS
Event, which includes plenty of tractors, highlights connection to company
HOOSICK FALLS, N. Y. » In the late 19th century the village of Hoosick Falls was known in agricultural communities throughout the world for the farm implements produced by the Walter A. Wood Mowing and Reaping Machine Company.
In an effort to recognize Wood’s impact in the community and have some fun in the process, Kevin O’Malley and Gregory Morin organized an agricultural show in his name in the center of Hoosick Falls on what once was the Wood estate’s front lawn.
Saturday was the fifth annual Walter A. Wood Tractor and Agriculture Show to be held in Wood Memorial Park in Hoosick falls. Despite an overcast sky and cool temperatures, the park was filled with tractors, horse drawn farm implements and people admiring both.
Stuart Ziehm, a fourth- generation dairy farmer, pulled out a smart phone to show photos of a truck load of antique farm implements he bought the previous night at auction.
“I almost got a Wood seat last night, but I got out bid,” he said. “I did get a few things though, a butter churn, a bakery rack, a stoneware jug and a few other pieces.”
Wood implements, pieces of them and associated accessories like a hand cranked blade sharpener, are highly sought by selective collectors. All the items are quite old. Wood’s company was in operation from 1854 to 1927 and all the equipment was built to be drawn by horses.
“I collect antiques,” Ziehm said. “I love old stuff. Had I got the seat I’d have put it on awall inmy house or in the barn. It’s decorative, it’s agriculture, and it’s historical. That’s what people do with things they love.”
O’Malley is a collector too and as his personal collection of Walter A. Wood Company implements expanded he sought a way to keep him in conversation in the village where it all began.
“The idea was to keep the memory of theW alter A. Wood Company alive,” he said. “It basically put Hoosick Falls on the map. Walter Wood was a Congressman, he owned the bank, and he was an elder in that church that’s right next to the park.”
Morin is not as avid a collector as O’Malley, but agreed the idea of the event was a good way to bring the community together for a good cause.
“You don’t see events like this one around here,” Morin
said. “You do see them in northern Vermont though. When Kevin proposed it, I thought it would be a good way for people who live around here to get together and enjoy the day.”
Like O’Malley, Frank Knapp is a collector of Wood items. He collects and re- paints iron seats from the company’s farm implements.
“I moved here from Bennington and felt I should have something with a connection to the town,” Knapp said. “I looked for anything with his name on it. I used to be in the auto body business so painting them was no problem. I only have nine seats here today, but I own 15 of them.”
Frank Ziehm, the father of Stuart, and the patriarch of Tiashoke Farms is not a collector of Wood implements but took part in the day’s festivities in his own way. He brought two tractors to the show, a rebuilt 1941 Allis ChalmersModel C and a 1952McCormick Farmall Super M. The elder Ziehm won the Allis Chalmers tractor in a raffle at the Northeast Antique Truck and Tractor Club.
“I only joined recently,” he said with a chuckle. “My boys told me, ‘ You’re 71 years old and you have no hobbies. You need to find something to do other than just work.’”
Ziehm’s farm, which he works with his sons, has 1,200 cows, 900 young stock, and around 1,000 acres of corn and hay to feed them. It’s the fourth generation of an agricultural family that has its roots in Guilderland.
“This was the family tractor when I was a boy,” Ziehm said patting the red Farmall tractor lovingly. “It had 50 horsepower and it was the workhorse of the family farm.”