A surly old-timer named Deere disrupted a
carefully choreographed square dance last month at the Montgomery
County Fair — and the audience was thrilled.
The interrupted show was a performance by the
Dancing Farmalls, a group of International Harvester tractors
driven in intricate, daring maneuvers that have been thrilling
fairgoers around the Midwest since the late 1990s.
The bright-red tractors are the good guys in
this show. But for every good guy, there must be a villain. At the
Montgomery County Fair, the villain turned out to be Roger
Moore’s John Deere 620.
The green bad boy was part of a show that
drew spectators from several states. Although the Dancing Farmalls
are famous, the JD 620 was the hometown favorite.
Myrna Moore explains how the JD 620 was cast:
“Don Walker [a fair organizer] wanted to get the Dancing
Farmalls here for the Montgomery County Fair’s 20th
anniversary. In that show, there is a John Deere
‘villain’ that comes in and steals one of the
‘women.’ ” Myrna laughs as she describes the
plot, noting that all of the women in the show are driven by burly
he-men.
“The villain tractor has to be supplied
locally,” Myrna says. “The villain’s driver was
dressed in a fancy black tux and tries to give the women flowers;
then they chase the John Deere off the track.”
Myrna notes that in every video of the
performance she has seen, the villain tractor is a John Deere. For
those not familiar with tractor-manufacturer rivalries, think Cubs
versus Cardinals.
Roger Moore’s 1958 JD 620 filled the
bill perfectly. The Deere, which once belonged to
Roger’s father, John Moore, spent 22 years in a shed after the
elder Moore’s death. Roger and Myrna recently carried out a
painstaking part-by-part restoration of the tractor.
During the show, the JD 620 was piloted by a
professional driver. Roger had just one condition for lending his
heirloom: “I told them if the tractor died, don’t hook
onto it and pull it out with an International Harvester
tractor.”
The Dancing Farmalls, accompanied by the JD
620, were a great success. Many local fair planners came to the
show to see the troupe, and, rumor has it, the group will make
other Midwest appearances next summer.
Now that the JD 620 has made its debut,
additional appearances are planned. The tractor will be displayed
at the Hillsboro tractor show in August, and Roger says that it may
also appear at the Lincoln Fall Festival Days, scheduled for Sept.
9 and 10 at the Montgomery County fairgrounds. At this rate, the
Moores may have to hire an agent.
This article appears in Jul 21-27, 2005.
