Tractors R Us in Maine
(Photo Essay)

It’s among our most unique Seacoast events. They came as if pulled by a Stark Trek tractor beam – hundreds of tractors and thousands of curious people drawn to a field in Eliot, Maine. Every little (and big) boy's dream.

We’ve heard about this strange event for years. Each July the Raitt Homestead Farm is overrun by antique tractors. They splut and chug, some seem barely able to keep their engines going. But these noble work horses just refuse to die.

They are impressive too – fire engine red, hazard yellow, lime green -- and as strong and large as great oxen. What boy can resist these machines that look exactly like his favorite and sturdiest sand pit toy?

It’s all tractors, all the time in Eliot in July. This is farm country, some of the earliest in the nation where the first grown forests were razed and sold to England in the 1600s and agriculture followed. There is a tractor parade, tractor pulls, tractor demonstrations, tractor-part flea markets. Children and adults put by on lawn mover tractors, half-tracks, tractors of every shape, year and model.

It isn’t the most welcoming festival for newcomers. A sign on the electroc fence that surrounds the tractor show reads: WARNING, LIVE / ON, DO NOT CROSS. But once you pay the small entrance fee and enter the Raitt family homestead, there are smiles all around. Oh and tractors, lots and lots of tractors.

The Raitt Homestead Farm is held annually in JULY and located on Route 103. Admission to the show is $3 and children under 12 are admitted free. For information, contact Lisa at (207) 748-3303.

Photos by J. Dennis Robinson, SeacoastNH.com

Photos copyright SeacoastNH.com