n THE CARILLON STEINBACH, MAN. C6
n www.thecarillon.com THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2024
WES KEATING THE CARILLON A prairie grain elevator and train cars loaded with farm implements adds an agricultural theme to Rick Collette’s train display. The St Adolphe collector has been attending the Steinbach event every year for more than two decades. Avid farm toy collectors won’t part with favourites
by WES KEATING T he annual Farm Toy Show at Clearspring Centre is adver- tised as a show and sale, but for the most ardent collectors, it’s much more show than sale. Surrounded by tables of green John Deere toys, some dating back to the 1950s, Ken Urbaniak and Brent Chubaty spend their time reminiscing about the old days be- tween visitors, all the while refusing offers to part with any of their fa- vourites. “Maybe next year.” Chubaty, who has been instru- mental in organizing the annual show for a number of years, admits it probably is time for him to start selling some of his growing collec- tion, but says he is in no hurry. His friend from Kennedy, Minne- sota echoes these sentiments. Urbaniak, a former John Deere dealer, whose family had dealer- ships in both Kennedy and nearby Hallock, says some of his more rare toys were collected by his father. They went out of business in 2002, when John Deere was pressing deal- erships to “get big” or “get out” at a time when farms were bigger and smaller dealerships were being con- solidated. John Deere did keep the Kennedy location open, but closed Hallock, Urbaniak said. At the peak of their family busi- ness, the Urbaniaks had 40 employ- ees at the two locations and catered to Canadian farmers living closer to the border. One of these customers was Chu- baty and it could be said these two decided to “get little” rather than getting out altogether. Chubaty’s farm show collection at the mall varies from year to year. Last year, it was Massey Ferguson and next year it may be Cockshutt. One thing is constant, howev- er, and visitors to the annual event marvel at the centrepiece, which is a barn created by Chubaty, with a cabinet maker who supervised the project and didn’t let him take any shortcuts in its construction. “It was a lot of work to individu- ally glue 1,500 shingles to the roof.” The same meticulous attention to detail is evident throughout this part of the display. The bales; big round bales, square bales, small bales in stacks and bales on a con- veyor belt being loaded into the hay loft, are all made of genuine hay. There is no room for plastic, Chu- baty chuckles.
WES KEATING THE CARILLON Brent Chubaty and Ken Urbaniak spend a pleasant afternoon swapping John Deere stories with visitors to the annual farm toy show at the Clearspring Centre.
and the Friesen’s have been coming to the Steinbach show for the past five years. The Friesen boys collect their own toys to add to the display and Ben and his boys, Christopher, Bren- dan, Dustin and Ben get together a couple of times a month to work together on buildings for new and bigger displays. But there was one collector, who came all the way from Virden, who has been collecting farm toys since the 1990s and has a ready stock of farm toys for sale.
For the Steinbach show, he has created a farm related train display. Like Chubaty and Urbaniak, Col- lette is in no hurry to sell off his collection and says he would like to keep going for at least another five or six years. Another display that again at- tracted a lot of attention to visi- tors to the Steinbach mall was the Friesen family from Winkler, who have created table upon table of in- tricate farm scene displays. The detached buildings and cor- rals depicting a feedlot, a hayshed and the yard of a typical grain farm has been a decade in the creation
One of these is Rick Collette of St Adolphe, who used to be the orga- nizer before turning over the reins to Brent and Rachel Chubaty. Collette usually shared his display space at the show with Aime Boivin, another avid model railroader. This year, Collette was on his own, for his hobby train partner has moved to Carberry to be closer to family. Collette is an auto mechanic by trade, who retired a decade ago. He used to be a Meccano enthusi- ast who switched to trains when he was looking for something different to collect, and, not to mention, play with.
In the rest of his spare time, Chu- baty takes care of 20 cows on his Ridgeville farm, puts up hay bales and firewood every year and plays guitar in a band at the Pat Porter Active Living Centre in Steinbach every week. Brent and his wife Rachel are en- thusiastically involved with the toy show every year and he says he is much like the others who visit the city with their displays. “These are big kids with their toys and while expecting them to set up Thursday evening for a Friday-Sat- urday show, some were already there waiting for me at 2 p.m.”
See ‘Shows like a family reunion’ on 7C
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