Wallsburg, Utah is not on most people’s radar. It is a small agricultural valley tucked into Wasatch County, a short drive from Heber City but a world away from the kind of tourist-destination events that dominate the Utah events calendar.
That is exactly what makes the Antique Power Show at the Richard W. Erickson Foundation Museum worth talking about.
This is not a reenactment. It is not a festival with food trucks and a craft beer tent. It is a working celebration of the machinery, the ingenuity, and the hard work that built rural America, preserved by one family’s extraordinary commitment to keeping history running.
The Museum Behind the Show
Richard W. Erickson spent decades collecting, restoring, and preserving antique farm and industrial equipment. What he assembled over his lifetime is not a storage facility, it is an operating collection. The machines at the Erickson Foundation Museum have been maintained in working condition, which is what makes the Antique Power Show possible.
The collection spans an enormous range: antique tractors and farm implements from the early twentieth century through mid-century, steam-powered equipment, stationary engines, and vintage machinery that represents the transition from horse-drawn agriculture to mechanized farming.
For families with children who have never seen a steam engine run, or who have never stood next to a working threshing machine, the experience is genuinely impressive. There is a different feeling to seeing equipment that is operational versus equipment behind a museum rope.
What Happens at the Antique Power Show
The show is centered on demonstrations, equipment running, operating, doing what it was built to do. That includes:
- Vintage tractor pulls and field demonstrations
- Steam engine operations
- Threshing and grain processing demonstrations using period equipment
- Stationary engine displays
- Opportunity to walk the grounds and see the full scope of the collection up close
The atmosphere is relaxed and community-oriented. The Erickson family and volunteers are present and knowledgeable, this is not a commercial event staffed by people reading from a script. The people running the show understand the equipment.
It draws a wide range of visitors: collectors and hobbyists who recognize specific machines, families bringing kids who are encountering this history for the first time, and people who grew up on farms and find the equipment familiar from their own childhoods.
Getting There and Planning Your Visit
Wallsburg is located in the Wallsburg Valley, roughly 7 miles from Highway 189 between Provo and Heber City. From Salt Lake City, the drive is approximately 50 to 60 minutes depending on your starting point. From Provo, it is closer to 30 to 40 minutes.
The setting is rural. Plan for a full half-day at minimum if you want to see the equipment demonstrations and walk the grounds thoroughly. Bring comfortable footwear for uneven terrain, and dress for the weather, the valley sits at elevation and temperatures can vary.
Why It Matters
Events like the Antique Power Show exist because someone made the decision to preserve things that were heading toward the scrapyard. The equipment at the Erickson Foundation would not exist in working condition without decades of restoration work, mechanical expertise, and the belief that this history is worth maintaining.
That is the spirit the show embodies. It is not polished or packaged. It is honest, machinery that was built to work, maintained to work, and still working. For a certain kind of visitor, that is more interesting than almost anything else on the Utah events calendar.
Plan Your Visit
