FARMINGTON — More than 300 tractors are expected to be at the Maine Antique Tractor Club’s 18th annual tractor festival Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Farmington Fairgrounds.

The focus this year is on a special line of Ford tractors, including a 1955 Ford 800 owned by Don Baldwin of Wiscassett, according to Glenn DeWitt, chairman of the festival.

Henry Ford built more than cars. He built Fordson tractors around the 1920s in the U.S. and in Ireland. He then partnered with a man named Ferguson and made Ford-Fergusons, DeWitt said.

A special event of the three-day festival this year is a charity pull starting at 4 p.m. Friday for the Ataxia-Telangiectasia Organization. Two children in Jay have the genetic disorder, he said.

Other highlights of the festival this year include demonstrations of a 1932 Lombard log hauler, an antique rock crusher and a shingle mill, he said.

The Lombard log hauler was a special tractor used for logging that was made in Waterville, DeWitt said.

He expects people will also enjoy Saturday’s Doodle Bug pull starting at 7 p.m. A Doodle Bug is a truck cut down into a homemade tractor. During the Depression, people couldn’t afford tractors, he said.

Along with the tractors, displays include a funk aircraft, adapted with a Ford V8 in the back to increase power, the Maine Antique Power Association’s make-and-break engines, sometimes known as “hit or miss” engines, from the early 1900s and a whole field of antique machinery, he said.

There’s also plenty of good food, a flea market and the Maine Maple Producers provide a pancake breakfast each day from 7 to 10 a.m.

Along with the pulls, there’s also a parade, photography and pie-baking contests, women’s skillet toss and more.

A schedule of events is available at www.maineantiquetractorclub.com.

Gates open at 8 a.m. each day with daily fees set at $5 for adults, $2 for children ages 11 to 17 and free those those under 10.

abryant@sunjournal.com

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