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Clockwise, from top left: Vintage farm tractors form a row during this year’s Steam and Pasture Party in Orange County. Robin Roberts and her husband, Gil, stand by a century-old steam-powered tractor at 2022’s Steam and Pasture Party, which is held on their Somerset dairy farm. Gil is president of the Somerset Steam and Gas Engine Association. A visitor from Georgia takes home excelsior produced by the Pasture Party’s shingle mill (rear).
Clockwise, from top left: Vintage farm tractors form a row during this year’s Steam and Pasture Party in Orange County.
A visitor from Georgia takes home excelsior produced by the Pasture Party’s shingle mill (rear).
A volunteer drives a giant, steam-powered tractor toward the main shed of the Steam and Pasture Party in Somerset.
Using a steam-powered thresher, farmers process freshly harvested corn at the Steam and Pasture Party in Somerset.
Mark Alger operates a stationary steam boiler inside one of the Pasture Party's exhibit sheds.
Pasture Party attendees cane antique chairs.
(From left) Rich Rossmiller, Robert Yowell, Trevor Paradis and Andrea Nissley re-enact history in the 7th Virginia Infantry, Company A.
Audrey Hutchison, Queen of the Shingles, proudly shows the steam-powered shingle mill at the Somerset Steam and Gas Engine Association's 2022 Pasture Party.
A Revolutionary War re-enactor holds period muskets.
A sign beckons visitors to a vendor's Model A truck, which dispenses old-time sodas.
A Pasture Party volunteer demonstrates how an anvil is used.
(From left) Amber Arrighi and Jenna Baber staff the Mack Shack, the Pasture Party's headquarters.
A volunteer tows children and parents in a toy train fashioned from oil drums.
It’s their party, and they’ll sigh if they want to.
Every summer, when old-time farm-equipment fans gather in Orange County, they sigh with admiration and fondness for the pieces of America’s agricultural heritage they’re preserving.
It all started in 1976 on this dairy farm in Somerset, Va., when a couple of farming buddies got together, yearned for the old days and started thinking about how to save what they held dear from vanishing into the past.
The late Bill Roberts, owner of Fairfield View Dairy Farm, and his friends Curt Fitzhugh and Buddy Hale fought for their right … to party.
Thus began the first Pasture Party.
Roberts and his pals formed the Somerset Steam and Gas Engine Association. And in 1977, they decided to invite the public to party hearty—sharing in their enthusiasm for the preservation of a variety of farm equipment.
His son, Gil Roberts, is the group’s current president, presiding over this past weekend’s 46th annual Somerset Steam and Gas Engine Pasture Party on the historic Orange County farm where Roberts’ dad got the party started all those years ago.
“The main purpose of the show is to preserve and demonstrate antique farm and industrial machinery,” said Brad Kelley, the SS&GEA’s secretary. “But also, to share fellowship with other collectors and antique machinery enthusiasts.”
Party to that plan is Jim Miller, the man in charge of organizing the dozen-plus tractors on display.
“I’ve been here since Day One,” Miller said, who lives in Rochelle. “We had a good time. It’s just the thing of bringing something back to life!”
The event’s Queen of Shingles, as she is nicknamed, agrees.
“It’s about promoting old-fashioned woodworking and presenting it to all these good people,” said Audrey Hutchinson, watching thinly shaved wood-shingles come off the line, sawdust clinging to the freshly trimmed wood from a steam-powered lathe. “This is a wonderful place to be today!”
Standing beside a vintage boiler, fellow exhibitor and volunteer Mark Alger shared that party line.
“Seeing old stuff saved from the scrap heap is a good feeling,” Alger said. “This history is especially important for the kids. So they can see it, touch it and smell it!”
Visitors—nearly 6,000 this past weekend, from eight states (Florida, Michigan, Indiana, New York, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia—flocked to the party to admire and appreciate days gone by. One exhibitor drove 14 hours straight to participate.
“The main attractions for most spectators at our event include the steam traction engines (steam tractors) and the demonstrations using the steam engines, namely wheat threshing, sawmilling, and plowing,” Kelley said. “Other attractions include the antique gas engines, also-known-as Hit & Miss engines, and the machinery they power (corn shellers, grinders, water pumps, slab saws, etc.). We also have a good showing of various brands and models of vintage farm tractors, cultivating, and harvesting equipment.”
Jed Clampett could have used and appreciated a recent donation to the party—the “Oil Rig,” a party-crasher from the Scott estate out of Charlottesville.
“It includes the drilling derrick, pump-jack, and antique Bessemer oil-field engine,” gushed Kelley.
“It’s originally from West Virginia!” said Robin Roberts, Gil’s wife. “I’m from West Virginia!”
She was as proud of her native state as the towering rig that painted a bold silhouette against a gray, cloud-filled sky.
The show also featured these five popular attractions: antique cars, classic cars, a flea market, blacksmiths, and other artisans.
Why call it a Pasture Party?
“Up until recently, the show grounds was a working dairy farm,” Kelley said. “The show is held in the main dairy pasture, and the farm’s cows occupied the field up until the week before the event.
“The nonprofit event began as a gathering of friends to tinker with the old equipment, share expertise in the repair of the machines, discuss new additions to their collections, and tell stories about acquiring new pieces,” she said. “It was a social gathering as much as a machinery show, so the name Pasture Party took hold.”
Its partygoers are quite generous, too.
“The monetary donations we receive from our spectators and vendors go toward the next year’s show expenses, upkeep of show equipment and facilities, and annual donations to other local community organizations (FFA, 4-H, Toys for Tots and local fire departments),” Kelley revealed. “We also have a college scholarship committee that awards scholarships to students in the local high-schools seeking higher education.”
So, what makes Somerset Steam and Gas Engine Association the life of the party?
“The appeal of the Somerset Pasture Party is not only the variety of machinery, but how active the show is with the numerous demonstrations,” Kelley said. “The exhibitors are friendly and always willing to talk to spectators about what the machinery does, why it’s unique, and why it was successful or a commercial failure.
“There are demonstrations that are unique to the region (steam plowing) and unique to any other steam show,” she said, citing the Excelsior Mill. “The exhibitors are passionate about the hobby, preserving the historic machinery, and teaching the public about the significance of the antique equipment and agriculture practices.”
Somebody, somewhere, was singing an old Ricky Nelson tune, changing the lyrics ever so slightly to celebrate Year 46 of this special and unique event:
I went to a pasture party
To reminisce with my old friends
A chance to share old memories
And it’s all right now
I learned my lesson well.
Robin Roberts perfectly summed up the events on her family farm. “We are country folks!” Roberts said, while shuttling visitors on a golf cart. “The door is also open. And there’s always food on the table.”
Culpeper resident Davy Meister, a retired teacher, is a former military and civilian journalist. Email him at meisterdavy@yahoo.com.
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Clockwise, from top left: Vintage farm tractors form a row during this year’s Steam and Pasture Party in Orange County. Robin Roberts and her husband, Gil, stand by a century-old steam-powered tractor at 2022’s Steam and Pasture Party, which is held on their Somerset dairy farm. Gil is president of the Somerset Steam and Gas Engine Association. A visitor from Georgia takes home excelsior produced by the Pasture Party’s shingle mill (rear).
Clockwise, from top left: Vintage farm tractors form a row during this year’s Steam and Pasture Party in Orange County.
A visitor from Georgia takes home excelsior produced by the Pasture Party’s shingle mill (rear).
A volunteer drives a giant, steam-powered tractor toward the main shed of the Steam and Pasture Party in Somerset.
Using a steam-powered thresher, farmers process freshly harvested corn at the Steam and Pasture Party in Somerset.
Mark Alger operates a stationary steam boiler inside one of the Pasture Party's exhibit sheds.
Pasture Party attendees cane antique chairs.
(From left) Rich Rossmiller, Robert Yowell, Trevor Paradis and Andrea Nissley re-enact history in the 7th Virginia Infantry, Company A.
Audrey Hutchison, Queen of the Shingles, proudly shows the steam-powered shingle mill at the Somerset Steam and Gas Engine Association's 2022 Pasture Party.
A Revolutionary War re-enactor holds period muskets.
A sign beckons visitors to a vendor's Model A truck, which dispenses old-time sodas.
A Pasture Party volunteer demonstrates how an anvil is used.
(From left) Amber Arrighi and Jenna Baber staff the Mack Shack, the Pasture Party's headquarters.
A volunteer tows children and parents in a toy train fashioned from oil drums.
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