2025 Current News
BELOW ARE THE EVENT REPORTS THAT ARE EMAILED TO OUR MEMBERS AS WE MOVE THROUGH THE SEASON. WE ALSO POST THEM HERE ON OUR WEBSITE FOR VISITORS TO ENJOY. THE FIRST REPORT YOU READ BELOW IS MOST RECENT.
Club Tour of the Pointe Ag Event Center - April 11, 2025
The spring weather was perfect on Saturday, April 11 when about 40 club members showed up for a tour of the new "Pointe Agricultural Event Center". The building is immediately south of the west end of our new Bremner north field that we occupied last summer for the first time. Four County staff welcomed us including Stacey Nestorowich (Parks and Rec Manager, Outside Services) along with three others who work at the facility itself .... Sean Reid (Facility Supervisor), Rosanne Dunham (Booking Manager). and Travis Perry (Operations Supervisor). A big SVTA thank you is passed along to them for a great afternoon.
The main public entrance faces east onto a 300+ vehicle parking lot. Once inside you enter a lovely reception area. Next, the main arena which measures 300' x 130' where the shows and competitions will be held on 35cm of special dirt mixture which can ba packed or tilled depending on the event that is scheduled. The arena will eventually have grandstand seating for 300. There is also a preparation and staging barn on the west side for participants and their animals along with a dedicated wash bay. This area can also be used for other kinds of events and shows, etc.
All in attendance were impressed with the facility even though it is still not finished inside or out. One has to be inside to really appreciate how breath-taking it really is. Once the surrounding area is landscaped and finished up, it will be a facility that is the equal of any event center anywhere. The county is to be commended on managing to complete the project in less than two years. The grand opening is scheduled for later this summer on Saturday, August 23, the same weekend as SVTA's 20th anniversary tractor pull and show event.
Click on the link below to see an article recently featured in the local newspaper .....
www.sherwoodparknews.com/news/local-news/the-pointe-new-ag-facility-one-step-closer-to-opening
Bodnar Museum Field Trip - April 5, 2025
Our first club field trip of 2025 took place on the morning of April 5 when we visited the Bodnar Family Museum. The Bodnar family has put together one of the most interesting and visitor friendly collections of items that you will find anywhere. A big thank you is passed along to Ron Bodnar and his family for hosting our visit.
After a brief introduction, we were "turned loose" to wander and experience the fruits of the family’s labour. There are no barriers or limits as to how close you can be to the exhibits. Perhaps the most noticeable items are the luxury air-cooled 'Franklin' automobiles which were manufactured in Syracuse, NY between 1902 and 1934. The Bodnar collection is one of the largest private collections of these rare vehicles that you will find anywhere.
After that, the other displays and collections are endless. A variety of storefronts make one think the clock has been turned back 100 years. You see countless automotive memorabilia and signs. You experience real drug store soda fountains, general stores and service stations as well as hardware and clothing stores. One room is wholly dedicated to Meccano Set collections plus others for wheeled toys (trucks, cars, tractors) along with famous cowboy gun & holster sets plus much more. It was a Saturday morning that we won't soon forget.
East 50 Final Farm Report 2024
Our 2024 farming efforts at our East 50 lease have pretty much wrapped up for the year. Swathing of 50 acres of wheat that was seeded back in May started on Sunday, September 22 followed by harvesting of the crop with 3 combines .... one of our JD 95's, our Massey Ferguson 550, plus a "new to us" 1970 International 503 that we recently purchased. We fought our way through the regular array of minor mechanical issues, adjustments and straw jamming, but we finished it up and our crop was in the bins by late afternoon on Wednesday, September 25.
On Tuesday, we put our 8' John Deere power binder to work on a couple of acres of the wheat crop. The crop was dry enough standing that we were able to load the bundles directly onto our wagons without stooking. We then towed the wagons back to the quonset at the Bremner site for winter storage. We'll put them through the threshing machine at next August's tractor pull and show, our visitors always enjoy those demonstrations.
We dealt with the wheat straw by putting a New Holland 268 and a John Deere 24T baler to work after the combines finished up. When all the dust settled, we counted 1570 small square straw bales along with an estimated 1500 bushels of wheat. Still to happen is some additional field preparation in October back at our North Field site at Bremner. We've disked the land once since the pull weekend and will complete one more pass before the snow flies. We plan to seed some grass ground cover and hay next spring if things go according to schedule with the county's new Ag facility at the North Field. Thanks to all of our members who pitched in for another successful season of vintage farming.
Strathcona Vintage Tractor Association