Buckley and the Old Engine Show

For most of the year, Buckley is a small, quiet village tucked up against the Grand Traverse County line. Then August comes, and the place fills with steam whistles, the chug of old engines, and tens of thousands of visitors for the Buckley Old Engine Show.

It started small. Back in 1967, a few local farmers hauled some antique tractors together for a “field day” to show them off, invited their neighbors, and drew a crowd. That handful of enthusiasts became the Northwest Michigan Engine & Thresher Club, and their get-together grew into one of the biggest antique-engine and tractor shows in the country — well over a thousand tractors and old engines spread across a showground that’s now hundreds of acres, with a working sawmill, threshing demonstrations, and steam power chuffing away all weekend. For a few days every summer, the little town swells to several thousand and the machines that once cleared and farmed this country roar back to life.

Dates and details are at buckleyoldengineshow.org.