In November of 1962 Oliver President Sam White, Jr. announced that there would be nine empty desks in Chicago that month. No, there weren’t nine people looking for a new job. They hit the road to assist in the traveling road show to introduce all of the new products available for 1963. That traveling road show would be called “The Growing O”, to represent Oliver – growing in the number of fine machines to help farmers grow their crops and growing in opportunities for Oliver dealers and employees. The show would be visiting nine branch cities in thirty-three days.
The original traveling road crew (1962-1966) consisted of Ed Kruse (coordinator); Dick Seidel (Corporate Service); Plant Sales Managers - Bob Johnstone (South Bend), Bally Lloyd (Shelbyville), Les DeMent (Battle Creek) and Gene Kuehn (Charles City). Those traveling out of the Chicago office were Sam White (president); Jim Wormley (vice-president); Don Koegle (Vice-President of sales); Herman Johnson (General Sales manager); Bob Dinnsen (Advertising manager); Harold Coffman (sales promotion manger) Bob Hale (Corporate parts); Pete Beatty (Industrial); Jerry Conte (Asst. Advertising Mgr.) and Bob Bird (assistant to the President). In addition, the advertising agency of Fuller, Smith & Ross always moved from show to show.
The shows were held at the branches around the US. An enormous amount of coordination went into the production of these shows. Charles City acted as the staging area for the show.

Locations and fields for the Growing “O” shows were arranged through the branch where the show was to be held. Oliver would specify how much land they needed for each demonstration and what crops where required. The branch would then find a suitable location, usually owned by a farmer. Any damage done to the fields from trucks pulling in and out of them was paid for by Oliver. The branch would arrange for tents with one large central tent, food, speakers systems, electricity, banners, rest rooms, ambulance and other misc. equipment needed for demos.

In April and May every year, the tractor and plow practice would begin in preparation for the show. Oliver rented fields around Charles City and practiced the demo for 8-10 hours a day. They practiced in all kinds of soils (loam, silt, clay, sand and others), at varying speeds and at varying plow depths. All tests were recorded in a notebook along with the settings. This allowed for quick, accurate set-up and demonstrations at the shows with predictable results.

If you want to read more about the Growing "O" it will be found in Issue #19