ELNORA — Antique Americana will be on display for education and entertainment Sept. 9-12 in Elnora during the 26th Annual Antique Show.

The White River Valley Antique Association sponsors the show adjacent to the Daviess County Fairgrounds, where they have several buildings designed to demonstrate how things were done “in the old days.” According to WRVAA Board President Bill Bays, there’s a horse barn, blacksmith shop, schoolhouse, log house, general store, post office, print shop, bank, candle shop, grist mill, museum, machine shop, and sorghum mill.

“We’ll have one new building for this year, and it’s a turn of the century 1900s house,” he said, adding that there will be cooking demonstrations inside and out. “People can walk through the house and see it.”

All buildings will have individuals on hand to show how they were used in the time period when they were common. Demonstrations include apple butter making, cider making, soap making, threshing, weaving, woodworking, plowing, and baling, among many others. Class will be in session for 15 minutes on the hour at the one-room schoolhouse from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Bays said each year there’s a featured model of tractor and engine at the show. This year, Minneapolis Moline tractors and Hercules engines will be spotlighted in and around the Feature Tractor Building.

“Usually the owners of the tractors are around them, and when people come up, they’ll answer questions” he added. “They’re always happy to do that.”

Anywhere from 400 to 800 school children attend the event to learn about the history of Americana. Bays said numbers have been down somewhat in the recent past because of budgets cuts, but they still get a large number of classes coming through on field trips.

“We invite area schools from miles around to bring their children on Friday at no charge,” he said. “We welcome them to the show. They go around and people talk to them and they ask questions.”

Other annual traditions include a wagon train/horseback ride from Odon to Elnora Thursday afternoon, starting at 1 p.m. A tractor drive starts at the same time in Montgomery and ends in Odon. There’s a horse pull at 7 p.m. Thursday, tractor pull at 6 p.m. Friday, a kids’ pedal tractor pull at 2 p.m. Saturday and garden tractor pull at 5 p.m. Saturday.

There are antique tractor parades at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and there’s gospel music at the shelter house at 7 p.m. Thursday, 6 p.m. Friday, and 12:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. People attending the gospel sing should bring their own chairs. Tractor Square Dancers will perform at 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and there will be toy displays in the Community Building throughout the show.

A variety of food will be available, according to Bays, including ice cream and ham and beans.

One big part of the annual Antique Show is the flea market. According to flea market organizer, Karen Dove, there will be more than 150 vendors at this year’s event.

“I’ve got more people calling than I’ve got room for,” she said. “I’ve been sold out for two weeks and they just keep calling every day.”

Dove said not all flea market items are antiques, but there are a variety of booths selling crafts, tools and new items, as well as antiques. She said there also will be mums, custom embroidery, candles, gourds, leather repair and knife sharpening booths.

“Probably anything you can imagine, we’ll have there — new, used and everything in between,” she said.

There are no set hours for the flea market, according to Dove. She said some vendors open as early as 8 a.m. and most close by about 6 p.m. Other activities and events begin at 9 a.m. and run through early evening, except on Sunday when things wind down  earlier in the afternoon.

“There’s an abundance of free parking at the fairgrounds and two different parking lots on our own grounds,” Bays said.

Admission is $4 for individuals 13 years of age and older. Children 12 and under are admitted free.

The WRVAA Antique Show was the brainchild of several people who wanted to preserve old ways of doing things for kids and adults to see in the future, according to Bays. He said the club was born and members started doing demonstrations and preserving old engines and tractors. He said it also gives them an opportunity to show off their preservation work.

“I think everybody that comes looks forward to the next year,” he said, adding that the club gets a lot of feedback from attendees who’ve enjoyed the experience.

He said attendance generally runs around 17,000.