Farm toy show marks 20 years

Like they have been every Father's Day for two decades, little tractors will be a big deal in LaMoure this weekend.

The city of just under 1,000 about 100 miles southeast of Fargo will be home to the 20th annual North Dakota Farm Toy Show this weekend.

Organizers say about 60 vendors will be on hand to display and sell their collections of miniature versions of tractors and other farm machinery.

The show is expected to draw between 1,000 and 2,000 people, said Cathy Scheibe, president of Toy Farmer Limited, the company that puts on the show.

"We think this year's going to be a big year because we've put a lot of money into publicity and advertising," she said.

Activities kick off today ) with a golf tournament and a social at the Scheibe's LaMoure farmstead.

The actual show will be held at the LaMoure High School gymnasium on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Other events will include an auction and a children's tractor pull on Saturday.

For its 20th anniversary, the show will focus on Versatile tractors, Scheibe said. The tractor manufacturer, now owned by Buhler Industries, was founded in Canada and once had a plant in Fargo.

Curt Ness, a 73-year-old Fargo farm toy collector who will attend the LaMoure show this weekend, said he is excited about the Versatile theme.

But mostly, he's looking forward to meeting with other collectors. He purchases most of his toys online these days.

"I do more visiting than I do buying," said Ness, a retired state patrolman.

Scheibe and her husband Claire, who died five years ago, founded Toy Farmer Limited in the late 1970s.

Beginning with a four-page, black and white newsletter that had 17 subscribers, the Scheibes soon began organizing toy shows.

Now the business has 14 employees, publishes two monthly toy magazines, sells toys and organizes three annual shows, Scheibe said.

The business was a natural extension of Claire's interest in the toy tractors he played with on the farm as a child, his widow said.

"He had very few toys as a child, but he had a few. I'm sure that's part of what drew him to it," she said.

Ness said nostalgia is also the impetus for his collection.

He got interested in collecting minute versions of farm machinery after he rediscovered a plastic tractor from the 1940s he played with as a child growing up near Clifford, N.D.

Though he has between 500 and 600 toys in his collection, Ness said that is small potatoes when stacked up against others at the show.

"I'm a pretty small collector compared to some," he said.

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Dave Roepke at (701) 241-5535