June 2, 2026
Meeting Place: Mc Beth Northfork Farms, 527 Y Ave, Ames, Iowa – 7 p.m.
Welcome \ Introductions: Don kicked off our meeting.
Guest and family additions: none
Treasurer Report: not given at meeting.
Old Business: None noted
New Business:
- Garden City, IA, June 7, 2026, tractor ride with an entry fee of $20.00. You must have a slow-moving vehicle sign. Top speed will be 13mph. The length of ride was unknown. Food will be available during the ride (breakfast at 7 a.m. free will offering and noon meal). Ride starts at 9 a.m. and will last approx. 2 hrs. Celebrating 125 yr. anniversary. Later in the afternoon there will be a band and fireworks at dusk.
- June 6th is Scandinavian Days Parade. Be on Roosevelt to line up by 9 a.m. This will be held rain or shine.
- June 28th, Kamar, Iowa free car show. They would like to have tractors this year. It’s the 20th anniversary of the show. There will be prizes and trophies. There will be breakfast and lunch available.
- July 11th tractor rides start at Gilbert High School and go to Story City Pizza Ranch.
- RAGBRAI is July 18-25, 2026 and will going through Gilbert. They are looking for 6 tractors with 3 pts to hold cable tight and then hang the bikes from as the come to town. The tractors need to be at least 4 ft.
- August corn feed will be at Don Johnson’s place.
- Huxley Parade and Show have been canceled for July 18th
- Ace Hardware has been canceled as they couldn’t find a date that would work.
- Plowing in Melbourne, Iowa, Saturday, August 1, 2026 at Mike Fitz’s farm, near Melbourne, IA. This is the State-level plowing competition for various classes, including antique, small plow, and other categories. The IPA plans to hold these matches in late July or early August to precede the national competition.
Discussion Items: Need presenters. We do have a couple lined up for the next months.
Auction or Threshing events: None noted.
For Sale or Wish List: Larry H. has a friend selling tractors at reasonable prices. One is a 1949 DC Case and the other a 193? F20. They probably have stuck engines, needing tires, both were in parade about 10 yrs ago.
Presentation: Mc Beth Northfork Farms, Carolyn, Garret, Connor and Kaitlyn Mc Beth
They originally lived in Ottawa and moved to the area around Gilbert to be closer to family members after the tractor accidental death of their dad. Garret talked about their new building and office. They farm around 1000 acres. All the kids (Garret, Connon and Kaitlyn attend school (ISU & Gilbert)), plus help mom work the farm. Garret also has an excavating business where he lays tile. The building is 81×160 ft. has 20 ft side walls. They dug down to the clay level and then topped with dirt. The pad has heated in floor boilers. The 36 led lights were installed by an electrician from Ottawa. The wash bay is 40 ft and will hold 2 grain trailers, loaded in the winter. They have a semi tractor with a low boy to haul the excavators. They have a side box dump semi-trailer for hauling their own rock. They about ran Martin Marietta out of white rock. They hauled rock for 2 weeks. Carolyn, Garret and Connor can all drive the semi if needed. Carolyn and Conner do grain cart runs. Garrett and Connor try to do most of their own repair work. They have a John Deer 4 wheel drive tractor with 540 hrs. and a 12 row planter. In the shop they have John Deere combine and the shop door is large enough they can bring in the combine with the with the head attached if they need to work on it. They have a nice office attached to the shop. Carolyn provided great treats for our tractor meeting. Weather made for a wonderful night and the area was beautiful.
Marlene Youde
Secretary GTC