JAMES VALLEY THRESHERS ASSOCIATION
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JAMES VALLEY TRACTOR CLUB
JAMES VALLEY THRESHER’S ASSOCIATION
| James Valley Thresher’s Association was founded in 1974. The 2014 Show celebrated our 40th anniversary.
The purpose of our Association is to preserve and demonstrate the methods of farming in bygone days, and to restore and preserve the equipment that was used. Each year the Association hosts the James Valley Threshers Show at Threshermen’s Park in Andover, South Dakota, on the weekend following Labor Day. It is a three day show, from Friday through Sunday. The Show includes a Tractor Truck and Car Show, a daily Parade, demonstrations of plowing with steam tractors and with gas tractors, threshing demonstrations, a Tractor Pull and other activities as interest develops. Two sawmills on the grounds also demonstrate lumber sawing daily. We also seek to preserve and demonstrate the activities of the family farm, including the Heritage Crafts that provided for the needs of everyday life – quilting, sewing, handicrafts, fiber arts, food preparation and more. Our Quilt Show in the Heritage Crafts Building features a theme every year, and we welcome all kinds of quilts and heritage crafts to be displayed. Family life was centered on school and church, which are also represented at our Show. There are activities for children, including the Kids Tractor Pull and a schoolhouse playground. We also have a Toy and Doll Show, and various displays of antique and vintage household items.
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The James Valley Thresher’s Association is a non-profit organization with no compensation paid to members. All net proceeds are reinvested in the development of the organization. Over the years we have added more activities and buildings to the Park, and expanded the property with purchases of adjoining real estate. We now have twenty buildings that serve a variety of uses, and acreage enough to present the largest demonstration of plowing in South Dakota, and one of the largest in the country.
Memberships are available to anyone interested in joining. Meetings are held monthly, except during September (our show month), January and February. See our Contact page for more information.
The majority of photographs in our book and on our website are the work of photographers Lexi Brown and Gayle Horter, with website contributions from member Kate Kelly. Photographer Kent Staubus also provided some beautiful photographs for us, and credit is given for them on the pages where they appear. The Club website is designed, created and maintained by Kate Kelly.
JAMES VALLEY TRACTOR CLUB
| The JV Tractor Club is a separate non-profit organization whose members share an interest in John Deere tractors and farming equipment. The local chapter was founded during one of the James Valley Shows, and continues to be a major part of the Show. The members have constructed a facsimile of an old John Deere Store on the Showgrounds, and a Blacksmith Shop like the one that John Deere himself would have used. They have also constructed several bleachers and sidewalks on the grounds, and provided many other upgrades.
Each year the James Valley Tractor Club purchases a John Deere tractor. If the tractor needs to be restored, some of the members restore it.They then sell raffle tickets on the tractor all summer at different events. They set up a booth at the Lakewood Mall in Aberdeen during the Mall’s annual Tractor show, and they sell during the Brown County Fair. At local celebrations such as centennials or quadricentennials in the area, they enter the tractor in parades and sell tickets on side streets. They sell at the Prairie Village Threshing show at Madison, SD, and the James Valley Show. The winner is drawn after the Sunday parade at the James Valley Show in Andover. |
Admission to the James Valley Threshing Show is $10 daily
or get a 3-day pass for $25!
Children 12 and under are free!
See you at the Show!