Antique Machinery Show this Saturday

The show will be 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. this Saturday at Market Street and 6th Street, behind the historic W.T. Preston steam-powered sternwheeler. Admission is free -- and on show day admission is also free to the W.T. Preston, a National Historic Landmark vessel.

This year’s theme is “tools.” You can browse displays of vintage tools and see tools at work, or bring in oddball old tools from your collection and get some help figuring out what they are.

The parade of tractors and other vintage vehicles starts at 11 a.m. Don’t miss the 1899 fire engine that was featured in the movie “Hello Dolly” and Anacortes Fire Department’s newly restored 1924 American LaFrance fire truck.

Nearby, the doors to the Anacortes Railway’s train house will be open to those who would like to take a look at Tommy Thompson’s beautiful and beloved little train.

Each year about 100 exhibitors from across the Northwest haul tons of gas, steam and kerosene-fueled machines large and small to the show. These engines were the technology that powered mills, factories and farms. The show will include steamboats, trucks, cars and plenty of contraptions. There will also be working models, metal workers, hands-on exhibits, carvers, weavers, machinery-oriented vendors, hay rides and children’s activities.

A special narrow gauge track will accommodate a working hand car. Visitors can ride the rails and pump the hand car with the help of some muscular volunteers.