Rentown Days Attract Record Attendance
Published: Friday, September 17, 2021
The line of people waiting to get into the 11th annual Rentown Old Fashion Days stretched nearly the length of a football field last Friday evening.
If that didn't say the Amish festival located three miles east of Bremen has become a big deal, the continuous stream of antique tractors being trailered in; the throng of shoppers visiting more than 60 vendors on the straw-covered promenade through the woods, and the non-stop cacophony of sound coming from non-stop demonstrations, did.
The air was flavored with smoke coming from the open fire heating a huge, cast-iron pot filled with ham and bean soup; a nearby automated cooker preparing brats and burgers, and steam engines of all shapes, sizes and ages.
Lakeville's Paul Stump topped things off in grand style Saturday morning when he celebrated turning 100 years old last Thursday by leading the parade—to a rousing round of applause—with the Oliver 77 tractor he bought new in 1954.
"We're very impressed with the number of people who've come out," said vendor coordinator Jason Helmuth. "We've never had this many people at this time of day on a Friday. The gates opened at three and I'd say there's more people here at 4:30 in the afternoon that there's ever been."
With perfect weather, a record total of 4,125 people went through the turnstile by the time the festival came to a close on Saturday, compared to 3,600 last year. In 2020, 75 antique tractors were on display over both days, but the festival was already up to 80, and counting, with four and a half hours to go on Friday, and ended up will more than 100.
"It definitely exceeded our expectations," Helmuth said while providing updated totals on Tuesday morning. "The weather on both days had a key role in that. We have no control over that, but know who does."
The venue had the feel of an early 20th century village as folks strolled past a team of draft horses, part of this year's featured event, dropping a log off to the sawmill connected by a belt to a massive steam-powered tractor.
"This is the first time we put on more of a show with horses," Helmuth said. "In previous years, we put a lot of emphasis on tractors, but we were like, 'OK, so we're Amish and our culture revolves around horses, why aren't we demonstrating horses more?'"
One of the exhibitions was a field being turned over with a team of six draft horses pulling a two-bottom plow. In one tug-of-war competition, it took 60 children to hold back a team of two draft horses, and 30 adults were required to stop the beasts of burden in the other, Helmuth said.
Mark Hershberger of Syracuse, and his brother, Omar of Goshen, manned one of the two blacksmith demonstrations going on at the festival.
"This is a hobby more than anything," said Mark. "We do it just for the satisfaction of people coming up here and talking to us. We don't expect to make any money; we're just demonstrating and if somebody wants to buy it, woo-hoo!"
All of the proceeds from the Rentown Old Fashion Days go to support the Rolling Meadow School which has 19 students in grades 1-8. The event accounts for about 40 percent of the school's budget.
"Because we're not state-funded as a parochial school, we have to come up with the money somehow, so our thought was always, let's get the community outside of Bremen—South Bend, Plymouth and all those areas—involved, and let's do something nobody else is doing," Helmuth said. "The first year, we had two vendors, and the last three we've had 60 each year.
"It's come a long way in 11 years."
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