Sunbelt Ag Expo brings farming from years past, along with the present, to Moultrie
Staff Photo: Alan Mauldin
By Alan Mauldin
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MOULTRIE — From the very young to the very old, the Sunbelt Ag Expo brings in a diverse gathering to see the latest in farm technology and more.
The big equipment is a popular draw for kids who clamber up the ladder of monster tractors to sit behind the wheel. Elsewhere, Expo gives a nod to agriculture’s past, including a daily parade of antique farm equipment.
The three-day show, which ended Thursday, brings about 50,000 to the former Spence Air Base that trained pilots for World War II, with the sprawling grounds near the city of Moultrie serving as ground zero for the activity.
Attendance for 2023 looked to be on par with the average, and perhaps a bit more, but the final tally won’t be available until credit card receipts are totaled on Friday for Thursday’s gate count.
“Numbers are incomplete at this time, but the crowds have been really great,” Expo Executive Director Chip Blalock said. “With the good weather and then the rain last week, farmers have had the opportunity to come out. We have been blessed.”
With the show’s closing imminent, thoughts had already turned to how this year went and to the next edition of the farm show.
“We’ve had a good week,” Blalock said. “The good Lord blessed us with great weather, great crowds. The exhibitors seem to be happy with their sales. We’re just looking forward to opening our gates on Oct. 15, 2024, for our 46th show.”
Among those who were in attendance on Tuesday was an octogenarian who brought his adult son and daughter and wife along and who has been in Moultrie for the Expo each year since its inception in the late 1970s. Sitting on a bench with his family, the retired educator recalled the life of growing up in rural Georgia in the 1940s.
The 84-year-old grew up on a small farm where he and his dad picked cotton by hand on a farm worked not with horsepower but with a different member of the equine family.
“I keep coming back because it reminds me of the ’40s,” he said. “I can see everything that happened in the ’40s and all the good things that happened in the 2000s. I can still remember the mule, and I thank God for the cotton picker.
“We had six mules. We did it all with mules and plows.”
His reminiscences included memories of the days he picked 500 pounds of cotton and chopping wood for the stove that provided the heat for the family homestead, as well as his father hauling bales of hay on the back of a mule-drawn wagon.
Asked what he thought of the daily antique tractor parade that features tractors as old as from the 1930s, he responded “Son, I love it.”
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