STATENVILLE — Antique Farm-Alls, Fords and John Deeres dotted a field Saturday in Echols County.

The Alapahoochee Historic and Farm Heritage Days got farmers out of their fields and townsfolk away from the city for several days of tractor pulling and flea market haggling fun.

Started seven years ago by Vernon Culpepper, the event honors the area’s agricultural heritage.

Vern Schultz, a Michigan native, showed off his modified Ford Log Skidder on Saturday.

From September to late April, Schultz travels around the South setting up his trailer filled with tractor manuals at various shows.

Schultz said the trailer contained about 1,200 manuals. At home he has around 12,000, he said.

The idea to sell the manuals, which he prints himself, came after visiting shows and hearing people talk about needing a manual for a certain machine.

“I would tell them that I had it back home and that I would print it for them,” Schultz said.

He estimates that he attends about 42 shows a year. After Alapahoochee, Schultz said, he will begin the trek back to Michigan where he will work shows during the summer.

Then in September he will head back South.

Schultz said he started coming to Alapahoochee after meeting Culpepper at another festival. He’s now been coming for four years to both the spring and fall event.

Pat Allen from Lansing, Mich., travels with Schultz and had managed to sell a daschund puppy during the festival. The puppy, offspring of her two daschunds, was born on Valentine’s Day, she said.

Allen said she loves coming to the festival in Echols.

“This is the nicest show, the people are so friendly,” Allen said. “You definitely get that Southern hospitality here.”

Arts, crafts and antiques of all shapes and sizes were on sale at the event.