Visitors to the Bos Brothers Historical Farm’s Old-Fashioned Fall Harvest were able to see vintage farm machinery in action Sept. 25 to 27 south of Erie.

Antique tractors, pickers, shellers and mills in a variety of colors and styles descended on the Bos Brothers Historical Farm, 8105 Springhill Road, to show how farmers reaped corn before the days of automated, air-conditioned combines that are now guided by global positioning for field navigation.

Charlie Hubbard of Chana runs his 1916 Case steam tractor to power a sawmill at the Bos Brothers Old Fashioned Fall Harvest on Friday, Sept. 25, 2026. Antique machinery was used during the 3-day event on the Bos Brothers farm south of Erie. (Earleen Hinton)

Visitors could step into a cornfield and watch as corn was picked, shelled and milled, then taken to a vintage wooden “cook shack” to be made into cornbread and baked in an antique stove.

That transference of vintage farming skills to today’s generation is one of the goals of the show that is organized and operated by the Bos family. The shows were started by brothers Chuck and Kevin in 2016.

The family plans, schedules and organizes each show as a “labor of love.”

Activities included farming-related demonstrations and hands-on events for kids. Blacksmithing, wood turning, weaving and other artisan crafts were on display, as well.

Large, antique tractors – some dating to the early 1900s – performed a variety of chores, including picking corn, plowing and powering a sawmill.

A 1916 Case steam tractor sliced big tree trunks into usable lumber at the sawmill.

Propane-powered tractors and two-row corn pickers, as well as the behemoth Aultman and Taylor kerosene-powered tractor owned by Chuck and Diane Bos, were part of the show.

The Aultman, standing at 11.5 feet tall on 90-inch drive wheels and measuring more than 18 feet long, was produced from 1910 until the company was sold in 1924.

For the younger crowd, a plowing demonstration using “muscle tractors” from the 1960s and 1970s showcased those machines’ mechanical muscle in a plowing exhibition.

The Bos family alternates its harvest show with its threshing show on odd and even years. Last year’s show concentrated on wheat.

For information about the harvest shows, visit Bos Brothers Historical Farm at www.bosbroshistoricalfarm.com.