The sounds of engines big and small echoed through the streets of the Little Log House Pioneer Village the weekend of July 26 for their 33rd annual Antique Power Show. The event consists of parades, historical reenactments, flea markets, a car show and more across the dozens of restored and rescued buildings that compose the village.
The Little Log House Pioneer Village started as its titular little log cabin in 1987 when Steve Bauer, owner of the Little Log House Pioneer Village, discovered a cabin dating back to the 1850s beneath an existing Hastings home while it was being demolished. Bauer saved the timbers and reconstructed the cabin on his farm.
In the decades since, the village of restored antique buildings including a post office, train depot, printing shop and church have sprung up around the log cabin in addition to a replica of the Hastings spiral bridge over a pond. Each building has been refurbished and contains ephemera of that time including working printing presses, period dental equipment and much, much more.
“Rather than collect baseball cards, I collect buildings,” said Bauer.
Nearly all the dozens of buildings that compose the village were similarly set to be demolished.
“Of all the buildings, I think I bought maybe two of them,” said Bauer.
The most recent acquisition is the Douglas Town Hall which was brought to the pioneer village only in the last month. The 110-year-old building still contained voting booths that several attendees of the Antique Power Show had they themselves voted in. Repairs and renovations are already slated for the building to remove the paneling and restore it to its original look, but none of that could happen before this year’s Antique Power Show.
“It’s going to be a big feature next year,” said Bauer.
Bauer claims to never have meant to build his own model village, instead simply he continued to rescue buildings and the detritus within them and restore them. He even laid rail through the village alongside the restored railway depot in order to showcase locomotives.
The first Antique Power Show was a very different event than the one in 2024. Early shows were working shows where threshing and plowing demonstrations were shown before a crowd of friends, family and neighbors. Modern events boast thousands of guests from across the country with daily parades, food trucks and extensive flea markets.
The flea markets boasted wares from animal pelts to tools to homemade foods to political signs. One antique vendor, Jim Powers, a retired long-haul trucker, was literally giving away some of his goods. When asked where the goods came from, Powers responded “anywhere and everywhere,” citing antique dealers from across the area who provide him with his wares.
Many craft fair vendors tour festival to festival, flea market to flea market often recognizing each other over the years.
“We have a flea market family,” said Janet Burmeister, another vendor at the flea market. As to what was selling, answers varied from cast iron pans to books.
Live music by the Squires Band and Tiger Ries played daily from 12-4 p.m. daily ranging from country to rock-n-roll to polka.
The daily tractor parade at 11 a.m. Friday to Sunday allowed attendees to show off their tractors to the crowds. Each year a brand of tractor is showcased with this year’s chosen brand being Ford. Tractors ranging from antiques to modern models, steam engines and lawn mowers puttered through the streets of the village as announcers detailed their year, model and historical significance.
The main event of the weekend was a tractor pull on Saturday night. Antique and modern tractors alike hauled trailers and sleds back and forth in various categories before a grandstand full of viewers.
While the Little Log House Pioneer Village is able to be rented for weddings and events, the Antique Power Show represents the only time each year the village is open to the public with dates for 2025’s event already chosen. Next year’s event will take place