SUBLETTE – The Sublette Farm Toy and Antique Tractor Show annual casual dinner will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday, March 14 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Hall. The dinner is open to the public.

Advance tickets are available at Pioneer State Bank and will also be available at the door. Tickets are $20 each, which includes dinner and entertainment.

This year’s entertainment will be Chuck Lahr & The Purdy River Band. Initially formed in 2013, the band primarily performs original music written by Lahr in the traditional and contemporary style of bluegrass, folk and country, along with classic standards, instrumentals and gospel.

Led by Manchester, Iowa, guitarist and lead vocalist, Lahr, the band is made up of outstanding musicians, with Frank Bayuk on dobro. Bayuk lives in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and is a retired senior engineering specialist formerly from California. David Sparks plays bass guitar and sings backup harmony vocals. He is a retired professor of finance at the University of Northern Iowa and lives in Waterloo. Steve Moon from Cedar Falls is a banjo player/harmony vocalist and is retired from the University of Northern Iowa as the IT director for the university. The band’s fiddle player is Rex Gunderson, who has been involved in music for most of his life and is retired living in Melbourne, Iowa.

The members of the band are diverse in their musical talents and come together with many years of experience.

Chuck Lahr & The Purdy River Band are recipients of several awards from the 2017 and 2018 Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America’s annual Midwest Awards Convention held in Jefferson City, Mo. Lahr was awarded Songwriter of the Year and Male Vocalist of the Year in both 2017 and 2018. He was awarded Entertainer in Bluegrass Music in 2017. Also, the Purdy River Band was awarded 2018 Bluegrass Band of the Year.

Lahr has released a full-length CD titled, “Midnight Run.” 

He is currently working in the studio on a second CD and has been readily playing the regional live music circuit with his band. “Midnight Run” was awarded the 2015 Vintage Bluegrass CD of the Year by the Rural Roots Music Commission.

Lahr’s original music has been described as a “smooth, easy satisfying style, attractive not only to bluegrass fans, but to anyone who has never heard bluegrass music before.”

This is a family-friendly band that loves an audience.

The 38^th annual Sublette Farm Toy & Antique Tractor Show will be held Saturday, March 14 and Sunday, March 15 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day. Activities will be held in nine buildings throughout the village. This year’s featured line of farm equipment is International Harvester, which has deep roots in Sublette.

In addition to the casual dinner, some of the activities on Saturday will be toy show vendors opening for business and a book signing by Paul Wallem, author of the book, “The Breakup-What Really Happened.” The book delves into the causes of the dissolution of the International Harvester Company.

Sunday starts off with a pancake and sausage breakfast served up by the Sublette firemen at Ellice Dinges Memorial Center. Other events include the farm toy show in seven buildings, a craft show and bake sale at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Hall, semi-tractor, antique trucks, antique tractors and farm machinery, and antique cars available for viewing, and much more.

The Sub-Let Indians and Maytown Comets 4-H food stands will be set up at the community building and Sublette Elevator.