Saturday, June 12 will feature the Kalona Tractorcade, an informal tractor parade that will start at 5 p.m. and wind through Kalona, showing off all different kinds of tractors.

The event will start in the Sunnyside Mennonite Church parking lot. Organizer Dean Miller said those interested in driving a tractor at the parade should show up early, around 4:30 p.m. There is no registration required or fee to participate. 

At 5 p.m. the tractors will leave Sunnyside, going north on 14th Street to J Ave, which they will take to 6th Street. After passing Mid-Prairie East Elementary, the tractors will turn onto G Ave for two blocks and then turn up 4th Street to J Ave again, then they’ll turn down 3rd Street and take a lap through Pleasantview Home. Then, the parade will jog around down to 4th Street, where they will cross Highway 22, turn onto D Ave, then to 6th Street, then up B Ave to the corner, back to A Ave and will end up at the Sale Barn. 

It is the same route used by the classic car parades in the past — Miller was given permission from the city to reuse the route. The route is about 4 miles long.

Miller organized the tractor parade in 2020 and said multiple people had asked him to continue the event. He said last year he didn’t know how many tractors to expect. “Could be 10 tractors or it could be 50,” he said. 

There were 75 tractors. People came from as far as Millersburg and Columbus Junction to participate. 

Miller said that, because there’s no registration required, he’s not sure what to expect this year, either. But he suspects there will be many different varieties of tractors, including antique ones that might be older than anyone watching the parade, he said.