The Village of Rantoul, Illinois and the I&I Antique Tractor and Gas Engine Club are teaming up to return this exceptional biennial event to Rantoul. First held at Henning, Illinois in 2003 to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Farm Progress Show, the Half Century Of Progress was expanded in 2005, and 2007. The turnout of visitors and vintage machinery at each event far surpassed the organizers’ dreams.

With 300 acres of crops to harvest and plow at this show, you will see vintage farm equipment working as it was intended, and not just for a few minutes at a time. Especially focusing on the vintage machinery of the 1950's and 1960's, the Half Century Of Progress IV will have corn pickers, combines, tractors, plows and much more.

It has become a tradition with the Half Century of Progress to demonstrate spectacular methods of farming. In 2005, a 60-bottom plow was pulled by three 110-horsepower steam engines from the early 1900's. The demonstration set a record for the Guinness Book of World Records as the biggest plow of its type, erasing the previous record set in South Bend, Indiana in 1911.

In 2007, a key attraction was the demonstration of a more primitive method of farming. It was an awesome spectacle of living horsepower when 48 draft horses were hitched together to pull a 32-foot Internatonal Harvester disc. The previous record for horses jointly hitched was 46. It was a sight to behold as over 86,000 pounds of horse-flesh was tied together on a piece of moden day farm equipment.

The 2005 and 2007 spectacular demonstrations may be hard to top, but just wait!

Organizers of the 2009 show are thinking BIG! The world's largest farm tractor, 747 BIG BUD will be working in the fields at Rantoul!

BIG BUD was built to produce 760 horsepower using a 16-cylinder Detroit Diesel engine. The tractor measures 27 feet long and 20 feet wide. It stands 14 feet tall! The tires are 8 feet in diameter, and BIG BUD is ready to work... with its 1,000 gallon fuel tank. Transported for this show all the way from Montana, this will be the first time that BIG BUD will be demonstrating its sheer power in the Midwest.

The Half Century of Progress is one of the largest and most popular vintage farm equipment festivals in America. Mark your calendars and make plans to visit this premiere vintage farming event. You will still be talking about what you saw in Rantoul years from now!