History that inspires

 
Kenneth Benning sat on the hay rack Saturday afternoon and talked about why events like the Northeast Iowa Antique Engine and Power Show are important.
There’s the celebration of Northeast Iowa’s agriculture heritage. There’s the history of farming on display. 
Instead, Benning, one of the original members of the Pioneer Power Acres club that has put on the show for 19 years, focused on a 9-year-old boy named Colin.
“He’s a town kid, but he’s watching a corn shredder working and he wants to be a farmer,” Benning said. “Maybe that’s not possible, but I talked to him about being an engineer.”
Benning asked the little boy if he was smart? Yep. Are you really smart? “I think so.”
Benning smiled as he recalled the story.
“So I took him over to the shredder and let him see how it really looks and works,” he said. “I told him, ‘The same principles that make this work, the new combines use those principles.’ And I told him we need kids like you to keep it going.”
Benning’s been around the proverbial block, so he knows a thousand things could keep 9-year-old Colin from becoming a 20-something engineer.
The point, though, is this: He believes the Antique Engine and Power Show and events like it have the potential to change lives.
— For more on the Power Show, see the Aug. 15 Tribune