For many, 66th annual Sycamore Steam Show is a family tradition

SYCAMORE – The 66th annual Sycamore Steam Show, hosted by the Northern Illinois Steam Power Club, drew a crowd of more than 1,000 on its first day.

The Northern Illinois Steam Power Club is an organization that seeks to preserve steam power and develop it as an educational hobby for the community. The Sycamore Steam Show, which runs through Sunday, is the manifestation of that mission. It’s a testament of steam power’s influence over agricultural communities. The show runs from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily at Taylor Marshall Farm, 27707 Lukens Road, Sycamore.

Power Club board member Jack Duchaj said the annual event usually draws more than 9,000 people over the weekend long event, but Thursday was, as usual, the least-attended day.

“The average Thursday runs with 1,300 to 1,400 people, but we’ve already had a total for the four days from anywhere from [9,000] to 12,000, but it kind of gets spread out now,” Duchaj said. “Thursday’s usually pretty busy. We started the senior citizens day back about 12 or 14 years ago, and on Thursdays we give senior citizens about a half-off break. If you look around here today, most everybody is seniors, but then tomorrow everybody goes to one price of $10, but it’s still not too bad of a price, really.”

Duchaj, 85, attended the first Sycamore Steam Show with his brother in 1957. Since then, he’s seen the generation that started the show hand off the tradition to the next. He said he’s aware the event’s success can endure only with the continued support of the community that started it.

“Even people who aren’t your family are your family out here. There’s people that I only see twice a year, and yet every time I see them it’s like a family reunion – getting together with people that you just implicitly love.”

—  Rhys Baker

Duchaj’s son, Will Duchaj, 55, said he helped out at the show’s saw mill back in the 1980s and has become more connected to the show’s community over the decades. Jack Duchaj became a board member around the same time, and went on to become the board’s president. Will Duchaj also eventually became a Northern Illinois Steam Power Club Board of Director, and spent time as the board’s treasurer.

In one form or another, most families have traditions, but generally those traditions aren’t attended by thousands of people every year.

“It is what it is. It’s like putting on any big event, I guess. And of course, you know there’s lots of families that are involved. And that is kind of the nice thing about our group, there is lots of family involvement at all different levels, by all different people. So it’s just kind of nice that way,” Will Duchaj said.

Will Duchaj said dozens of families are involved with the event, but the overarching steam power community is at the heart of the Sycamore Steam Show and the reason it’s well-attended each year.

“These events, in some places they call them reunions, and I think that’s a part of the key to some of this stuff, too, because there’s lots of folks here that I see once a year, and it’s here. So it’s one of those things. I think a lot of people see it that way also, as a way to reconnect with people, that once a year kind of thing.”

Rhys Baker, 35, has a similar outlook. His family has been involved with the show since before he was born. When he was born, his mother was on the board of directors for the event and his grandfather attended the first Sycamore Steam Show in 1957.

“Even people who aren’t your family are your family out here. There’s people that I only see twice a year, and yet every time I see them it’s like a family reunion – getting together with people that you just implicitly love,” Baker said.

On Thursday, Baker was working on and riding a half-scale model of a case steam engine, owned by Dave Stevens. He emphasized that his story was no different than many others at the show.

“There’s so many guys out here with stories. There’s a guy down at the saw mill who his folks actually run the saw mill that we own and they’ve been running it since the 1890s, I think he said. There’s people like that all around here. Everyone’s got a story of how they got involved and the work they’ve put into it,” Baker said.