Swampy's Florida

A trip to the Florida Flywheelers 24th Annual Antique & Tractor “Swap Meet” found Flywheelers member, George Fair by his area of engines at the show, Friday, January 14th, 2011. Click here to learn more about the event.

The 3 time a year event is located right smack in between Fort Meade, Frostproof & Avon Park. The land is owned by the group and in the past 10 years permanent buildings have been constructed on the former grazing land for antique engine exhibitors, such as the one above. 1000s and 100s of people from all over the world come to the shows and exhibit. It is hard to describe how large this show is, but imagine one of the larger convention centers and this show overfilling all floor space. There is a reason this is not a one day event – Especially if you like machinery and/or engines. For if you do enjoy such machinery and you make even one stop to look at an engine and chat with the owner, time flies real quick.

Here’s the main office on the property that also has a Flywheelers gift shop attached.

Here is one of the larger engines permanently displayed in the park.

Inside the exhibiting area, George shows one of the engines he created entirely of scrap materials. Here’s a great example of how time can go by when speaking to an engine creator like George: His machine includes components of baby food jars to the head of a water faucet. All of the parts have stories and they are interesting stories. There are a lot of engines in George’s area and there are a ton of areas throughout the park, so there are a ton of stories to be shared and learned. If you go be sure to alot your time according to your interest.