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Tractors tour Rock County on second annual ride

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By
Lori Sorenson

There were farm tires and smokestacks as far as the eye could see Friday when nearly 70 tractors left Luverne City Park and tooled around Rock County.
Many of the riders and drivers were returnees from last year’s popular event, which immediately prompted plans for a 2017 encore.
“It was a good ride,” Iowa rider Jim VanDerWerff said Friday. He and his friend, Ken Johnson, also from Iowa, were in the 2016 tractor ride.
They said they enjoyed it for many reasons, but mostly it’s for the chance to rub shoulders with other gear heads.
“You get to talk to other tractor folks — there’s a few lies get told …” he laughed.
Another rider, Don Krommendyke, Sioux County, Iowa, approached from his Ford tractor when the group stopped for lunch. “Are you telling lies?” he said to VanDerWerff and Johnson.
Mostly, the stories center on what’s special about their tractors — a 1962 Allis Chalmers D15 Series 1, a 1946 Farmall H, and a 1954 NAA Golden Jubilee Ford.
All three men are nostalgic about their old family workhorses, now restored to a polished shine.
This was a familiar theme among lunch conversations at Blac-X Farms in western Rock County where Peter and Jay Bakken hosted the group for burgers, baked beans, potato salad and fresh watermelon wedges.
As Rock County Farm Bureau leaders, the Bakken brothers recognized the tractor ride was about “Farmers, Family, Food,” which is Minnesota Farm Bureau’s official logo.
“We saw it as an ag-related, community-supported activity that Farm Bureau could help out with,” Peter said. “It looked like fun, and we wanted to be part of it.”
In addition to tractor talk, the group was also concerned about Worthington riders Don Olson and his passenger, Nadine Sorby, who were injured in a crash at the state park.
The route took the tractors up the interpretive center hill where they looped around the parking lot and headed back down.
The Olson tractor reportedly left the park roadway, headed down the hill and was stopped by a tree. The two riders were taken to Sanford Luverne with what was reported as non-life-threatening injuries, and fellow riders drove the tractor back to the driveway.
The ride started at 8:30 a.m. in Luverne City Park after a “tractor blessing” from Father Tom Jennings who also drove a tractor in the lineup.
Planners were Ossenfort, Jerold Mann and Ken Vos.
The route included the Magnolia Café for breakfast, then the Interpretive Center at Blue Mounds State Park, lunch at Bakken feedlot shop and then Rauk’s in Beaver Creek.
The last stop was at Loren Forrest’s for homemade ice cream before heading down Main Street back to the park.

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