Friends of Tractor Museum to celebrate 10th anniversary

Friends of the Larsen Tractor Museum at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are set to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the museum with pizza, pictures and a program Jan. 19 at Valentino's, 35th and Holdrege streets.

A pictorial history slideshow and buffet is 6-7 p.m. in Valentino's basement party room. A limited number of tickets are still available through the Larsen Tractor Museum only at $12 for adults, $6 for children ages 4-12. Telephone (402) 472-8389, stop by the museum on the UNL East Campus or order online at http://tractormuseum.unl.edu before Jan. 15.

A program begins at 7 p.m. with Dave Mowitz, host of RFD-TV's "The Machinery Show." Mowitz made a career of covering the latest developments in machinery and technology in agriculture. After managing Husker Harvest Days farm show in Grand Island, he became machinery editor for Successful Farming Magazine. Mowitz is also an editor of the Ageless Iron Almanac and the Rust Book. Ageless Iron is a bi-monthly magazine covering the hobby of collecting antique tractors and machinery. The Rust Book is the authoritative pricing guide for antique tractors. Throughout the evening, several copies will be given away.

The second speaker will be Kevan Exstrum, a project director for the Donning Co. Publishers, the nation's largest specialty book publisher. Exstrum will present an opportunity to develop a custom-tailored, limited-edition pictorial history book to preserve and celebrate the 10-year history of the museum (1998-2008), and the approaching 90- and 100-year anniversaries of the Nebraska Tractor Test laboratory, which opened in 1920.

The program will also include an 8 p.m. business meeting of the Friends of the Larsen Tractor Museum.