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.
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section.
Phots by J. Dennis Robinson, SeacoastNH.com
Photos copyright SeacoastNH.com
