The Pella Christian Tractor Restoration Committee received grand champion honors in the Group Restored Tractor division of the Agricultural Mechanics Technology competition at the Iowa State Fair earlier this month.
The committee purchased a John Deere 4230 from Colfax Tractor that was not operational, and worked for over a year on restoring the tractor back to its original form. Pella Christian FFA members Cameron Dykstra and Nate Patterson said it was an honor to be recognized for their hard work.
Dykstra: “I think it was a really great experience and I think definitely promoted our chapter to do more projects like this. It really gets our name out there and kind of helps support the chapter.”
Patterson: “I thought it was really cool also because the last tractor we did, we also won grand champion for the class. So, winning it two times in a row now, that kind of puts an impression on us that we kind of know what we’re doing, and we put the effort into it and get stuff done.”