July 4th, 2009: ”Pappy” will appear in the annual Piedmont Fourth of July parade. This event is Norman Rockwell Old School.
July 11, 2009: Sand By The Ton. Oakland, CA. Wilhelmina makes her triumphant 2009 return, not so fresh from the brackish waters of the Hudson River, to the grand opening fundraiser for Big Art Studios, Oakland's newly greatly expanded arts production space! KSW's stern wheel paddleboat steamer will be running... while suspended 20+ feet in the air from a giant crane. Info, times, tickets, locations, directions... are HERE.
September 19th/20th, 2009: Roots of Motive Power Power Festival. Chico, CA. "The major steam-up event of the year is the Roots of Motive Power Festival, held annually in September the weekend after Labor Day at the Roots facility. Our work efforts throughout the year are aimed at having every piece of operable equipment under power. Plumes of steam and the shrieks of steam whistles will fill the air as a variety of steam-powered equipment is fired up." Info is HERE.
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June 13-14,
2009:
”Pappy”
will made its debut at the Chico Threshing Bee & Country
Faire.
It’d been two years of hard work. We learned a lot
and we’ve completed a handsome restoration that we
are proud of. Paul Bonderson’s “Pappy,” a
1917 J. I. Case Traction Engine was steamed-up and running
in Chico, CA. We spent a good deal of time threshing,
running the Baker Fan and lumbering around in tractor
parades. Pappy came on like the majestic woolly mammoth,
mere gasoline powered so called vintage John Deere
lawnmowers cowered before it! Hyperbole aside, we were
welcomed by so many at this event, we met a ton of new
people and had a great time.
May 30-31, 2009: KSW performed at the
venerable Maker Faire!
April 2009: We’ve acquired a
rare “Double-Simple”
type engine from the 1890s (photos too). A restoration
plan and schedule are in the works.
April 26, 2009: The KSW custom
Baker Fan (like a treadmill for traction engines)
is now complete, it's a one of a kind Andrew O'Keefe design. It
was used to load test Pappy for first time since
1917(!), in preparation for the Chico Threshing Bee & Country
Faire.
August 17, 2008: New York Times: A Floating City With Junkyard Roots, by Julie Bloom. Photos by Nathaniel Brooks. The article appeared on the front page of the Arts Section.
