toledoblade.com --

Fulton County is throwing one of its biggest historical celebrations ever this weekend with hundreds of steam engines and other antique agricultural implements, ghost stories, a Civil War encampment, and an Ohio Bicentennial play.

The National Threshers Association Reunion is expected to draw 15,000 people over four days at the Fulton County Fairgrounds north of Wauseon. The group promises an unprecedented demonstration today and tomorrow of three engines pulling a 50-bottom plow, which is five times the size of the largest plows used by farmers today.

The 150th anniversary of the founding of former agricultural machinery maker M&J Rumely Co. in northwest Indiana will be marked; the Rumely Products Collectors group is holding its annual expo at the threshers reunion and brought huge machines from as far as Argentina to the fairgrounds show.

"It's an ideal opportunity to see how many of today's farm tasks were originally tackled," said threshers president Marvin Brodbeck. "For some, it brings back special memories of the family farm. For others, it provides a whole new perspective of the time and effort involved in harnessing steam power."

Paul Guilford of Ottokee, Ohio, cruises along on his United Steel Foundry tractor, watching others set up. His tractor is one of only six the company made.
( THE BLADE/ANDY MORRISON )

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At the Fulton County Historical Society, a psychic has predicted spirits at the museum, which is known for unexplained sounds and smells, will be active tomorrow during the society's 120th anniversary celebration, museum director Barb Berry said. With a house and garden tour, children's games, and numerous historical re-enactors, artists, and musicians, tomorrow is expected to be the museum's biggest celebration ever with hundreds of visitors.

The city of Wauseon will commemorate the Ohio Bicentennial with presentations of A Century of Voices from Ohio, a play drawn from the stories of hundreds of Ohioans that is to be performed across the state this year. Organizers hope free presentations in Wauseon High School at 8 p.m. tomorrow and 2 p.m. Sunday draw at least 1,000 people.

The museum's celebration runs from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. tomorrow and resumes at 10 p.m. with a night ghost tour and walk through the Civil War re-enactors encampment after the bicentennial play.

"You could come here and not spend a dime and have a good time," Ms. Berry said, because of many free events.

The museum will charge $2 for the ghost tours, a 30 to 45-minute guided walk through the 16-room museum with descriptions of past eerie encounters. Tours of the cottage Victorian style house at 238 Monroe St., owned by museum supporter Barb West, will cost $5. The museum will also sell slate paintings, made from what had been the museum's 100-year-old roof before it was replaced with shingles last fall.

Adult admission is $4 to the 59th annual thresher's reunion, which opened yesterday and runs through Sunday. Children under 13 get in free.

There will be daily parades and competitions, a fiddler's contest tonight, a kiddie tractor pull at 1 p.m. tomorrow, and a flea market with more than 100 vendors.

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