Duane Medow checks his gears and knobs before starting his tractor as the lead of the family's caravan on July 4 in Seward. He's driven in Seward's Fourth of July parade for years but never with all of his children and grandchildren on tractors.
Duane Medow got on one of his restored antique tractors and rode the sparkling orange machine into Seward for the Fourth of July just like he has for years. The pandemic canceled Seward's typical Fourth of July parade that Medow drives his tractors through, but that wasn't going to stop him this time. For the first time, he had a full cavalry of reinforcements.
Grinning from ear to ear and with multiple younger generations behind him, Medow led the small parade of tractors from the family farm into town for a Fourth of July lunch at Valentino's. It took them 45 minutes through the midday heat, a light breeze cooling them under the beaming sun, but at last all of Medow's children and grandchildren drove their tractors into town.
“This has been a dream my dad had for a long time,” Connie Nuller, Medow's daughter, said. “He's got all his tractors all shined up.”
Medow has been a constant in the Seward County agricultural community for years. His grandfather bought the family farm in March 1910 and he's lived at Medow Farms his entire life. He and his wife, Barb, got married in October 1955 and the family grew from there. They had multiple children who, eventually, welcomed even more grandchildren into Medow's world. They're all spread out over the country now, but every once in awhile they find time to visit. And they wanted this time to be special.
Muller's children heard stories of their grandfather in the parade and wanted to drive tractors, too. They also wanted to ride with their cousins. So the siblings all got together and arranged a visit for this Fourth of July. This year they'd finally ride the family fleet of tractors together. Of course, that was before the pandemic. Even though the city of Seward canceled its in-person celebration, including the parade, the family decided they'd stick to the plan.
“I told them that I think we could just get on the tractors and ride to Valentino's,” Medow chuckled. “That sounded pretty good.”
He's an active member of the SYA Tractor Club, an antiques tractor club named for the membership communities of Seward, York and Aurora. They haven't met since the pandemic started. So he's polished his collector tractors in peace.
There's the one modeled after the tractor his father purchased, a WD45 made in 1955. That was the first one Medow restored. It came from Rolfsmeier's shop downtown.
Then there's a smaller C8 and a D17. Medow's children rode those into Seward while older grandchildren followed on an ATV and the youngest bunch of the 20 who came to visit rode in a trailer and waved. They would have waved at strangers, other fans of the Fourth of July. Instead, they made their own parade and rode off onto dirt roads back to Medow Farms.
