Anna Flatt did more than simply see various kinds of horsepower on Sept. 28 at Lake Metroparks Farmpark.
The 7-year-old Mentor resident also got to feel horsepower in its most basic form.
Anna plowed a few rows of a field behind a team of two draft horses that each weighed in the range of 1,500 pounds or more. This ritual would be repeated by plenty of other children on Sept. 28 and 29 during Horsepower Weekend at Farmpark, 8800 Euclid Chardon Road in Kirtland.
“It was really bumpy and fast, and I have a lot of dirt in my shoes,” Anna said. She gripped both handles of the plow while Lake Metroparks employee Johnathan Squibb stood alongside her, with one hand on the plow and the other holding reins to guide the horses.
Horsepower Weekend, held for the first time in 2019, is an event that grew from what used to be Farmpark’s Antique Tractor Weekend.
“While tractors are still a good part of it, we also wanted to show how we went from horses to tractors to cars and trucks,” said Lake Metroparks Farmpark Events Manager Andy McGovern.
All of these types of horsepower were highlighted throughout the event.
Along with giving visitors an opportunity to steer a horse-drawn plow, local draft horse teams joined with Farmpark’s draft horses to perform demonstrations.
“The focus is obviously on horsepower and how things have evolved over the last 150 years with the aid of these animals to get work done,” McGovern said.
A variety of antique tractors also were on display at Horsepower Weekend, such as a 1934 Huber Model K Threshing Tractor and a 1926 Fordson Model F. One visitor who enjoyed looking at the old tractors was Marlin Kirkendall of Lima, Ohio.
“I’m from that generation,” said Kirkendall, who drove tractors such as a John Deere Model A and Farmall F20 while growing up on a farm.
Coming from an agricultural background, Kirkendall said he enjoyed seeing horses and tractors being highlighted during Horsepower Weekend.
“Everything is nicely done,” he said.
Horsepower Weekend also featured Lake Metroparks Farmpark’s first-ever Car and Truck Show, slated for Sept. 29 only from noon to 4 p.m.
“There will be all kinds (of cars and trucks), not just antiques,” he said. “We’ll have 2019s and souped-up vehicles, you name it,” McGovern said.
Scheduling Horsepower Weekend near the end of September also helped to celebrate the role that horses and tractors have played in fall harvests throughout American history. To make the event fun for children, Horsepower Weekend also offered harvest-themed crafts, pedal tractors and corn grinding.
“Running off a tractor, we need help turning the corn into feed for the animals … and the kids love to help,” McGovern said.
