A massive boiler whose steam could be channeled through a long hose to steam-fed farm machines, toys, utility vehicles and other steam-powered apparatus is tended by association member Tom Kouttron, foreground, and Mike Cooke of Rindge. Photo by LORETTA JACKSON

HOLLIS – Ain’t nobody makin’ a cup of tea with the water that heats the antique steam engines seen alongside their gas-fueled brethren at the 53rd Annual Granite State Gas and Steam Engine Association Spring Show, an event presented June 7-8 at GSG&SE headquarters, 80 Witches Spring Road in Hollis.

“The kids especially love seeing the gas and steam and diesel machines that help them learn about the evolution of the equipment that in the old days did all the work on the farm and in industry,” said Maura Keegan, association secretary.

“You had to build what you needed back then, in the days before you could run out to a parts store to buy it,” she added.

Club members of the organization launched circa 1976 to “preserve our industrial and agricultural past” — the website banner — bustled around the show space attending to the positioning of tents, campers and show vehicles, tractors, hay balers, race cars and utility trucks.

Collen Keegan, Maura’s daughter, organized a contingent of vendors with wares ranging from comfy pillows handcrafted by Doris Lake of Laker’s Acres in Orange, Mass., to antique parts, apparel and collectibles.

Master woodcarver John Lake of Laker's Acres in Orange, Mass., makes the sawdust fly at the GSG&SE Spring Show as he carves a big-eyed owl upon a heavy timber from a fallen tree during the rendering of one of his artworks that focus on folklore, nature, animals and birds that he produces with detailed precision. Photo by LORETTA JACKSON

A highlight of the weekend was a Tractor Pull competition in which contenders revved up their tractors and pulled a sled piled with thousands of pounds of square stones. Black smoke billowed from exhaust stacks. Sometimes, rooster tails of dirt spun from the wheels as drivers strained forward urging their machines to pull the ever-heavier loads.

An antique ice cream machine from a company founded in 1902 and still churning treats for visitors was well attended. The Alaska Freezer Ice Cream Maker at the show is powered by a 2 Horsepower Lawson Engine.

Old timey works were highlighted with sawdusty sculpture crafted with a STIHL-brand chainsaw wielded by Doris’s husband woodcarver John Lake of Laker’s Acres.

The Hollis Spring Show is followed by a Greenfield Harness and Drawbar Club’s Antique Tractor Show, Sept. 13-14 at Oak Park in Greenfield.

Jennifer Wolf, a longtime Hollis artist but first-time attendee to the show, hosted annually on the first weekend in June, said she was quite impressed.

All manner of products from a diverse group of vendors included dozens of handcrafted pillows sporting images of tractors, trucks, cars and nature themes from Doris Lake, partner to woodcarver and exhibitor John Lake, both representing Laker's Acres of Orange, Mass., whose pillow extravaganza and chainsaw carving demonstrations of tree stumps and logs drew buyers and admirers to the recent GSG&SE Spring Show in Hollis. Photo by LORETTA JACKSON

“I loved this show,” Wolf said. “Hollis stands strong behind trusty traditional engines — the best we have until something saves civilization from the tire-shredding disaster monster known as battery-powered vehicles.”

More information about the GSG&SE can be found online at granitestategasandsteamengineassociation.com.

The 1950 Oliver tractor churning black smoke with the exertion of dragging a platform of stones weighing 8,000 pounds is the Tractor Pull entry of Michael Costos of Groton, Mass., one of the contenders in the Tractor Pull event, a challenge for some rugged antique tractors at the recent Granite State Gas and Steam Engine Association's 53rd Annual Spring Show. Photo by LORETTA JACKSON

The Granite State Gas and Steam Engine Association's 53rd Annual Spring Show, traditionally celebrated at the club's home base in Hollis on the first weekend in June, attracted some of the group's most active members, from left, Richard Keegan Jr,, aboard a 1957 Ford 860 all-purpose utility tractor with a two-way plow and Richard Keegan III, manning a 1962 Ford 841s Powermaster all-purpose utility tractor enhanced with an Elenco four-wheel drive kit, seen here with Nick Freda, driving in fine style a 1958 Ford 841s 4x4 antique utility tractor. Photo by LORETTA JACKSON

The Spring Show hosted by GSG&SE showcased automotive examples of race cars, all housing 350 cubic-inch small-block Chevrolet engines, competitors that include the #35 Car, a 1936 Buick body in open-wheeled modified class owned by Ken Brown of Epsom and displayed here by Scott DeCota of Chichester, owner of the #53 Car, a 1941 Ford Body on a Garner Levitt chassis modified and the #22 Car, a 1960 upright supermodified monster formerly owned by renowned racer Roy Eldridge. Photo by LORETTA JACKSON