Photo by Kaycee Anderson Iron Wheel Farmall

Photo by Kaycee Anderson Teresa Scanlan

Photo by Kaycee Anderson Covered wagons

Photo by Kaycee Anderson Joan Wells

Photo by Kaycee Anderson Model train

Photo by Kaycee Anderson Strolling through Heritage Village

All shapes and sizes of tractors from Nebraska and surrounding states paraded around the grounds at the Lincoln County Historical Museum Saturday to help kick off Nebraskaland Days.

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Nearly two hundred tractors were parked around the grounds on display while others baled hay, shucked corn and even smashed aluminum cans during the first day of a weekend Heritage Festival..

At 2 p.m., 23 tractors paraded past the bleachers for three judges. All the tractors were from the 1920s to 1950s. The award for the best tractor will be announced Sunday at the beginning of a tractor rodeo.

Jim Griffin, curator, was amazed with the number of tractors -- "more here than I've ever seen," he said.

The opening ceremonies for Nebraskaland Days were held at noon.

Teresa Scanlan, Miss America 2011, sang "God Bless America" and the Gospel Lites of North Platte sang the National Anthem.

The day started with horse-drawn wagons that transported visitors from the Wild West Arena parking lot to the museum grounds.

Once there, visitors were treated to a wide variety of vendors, foods and activities.

Griffin was pleased with the number of vendors that set up for the festival. He expected only 16, but more arrived as the day began.

The booths offered a wide range of items -- including wood carvings, homemade jams and jellies, baked goods and jewelry.

If it was food you were looking for, there was a variety to please anyone, including Mexican and German food as well as hot dogs, sloppy joes, kettle corn and funnel cakes.

Trick roper Joan Wells of Lincoln, entertained the crowd with her tricks. Afterwards, Wells found a friend in little two-year old Gage Gartrell. Wells had Gage stand still while she twirled the rope around him. After she was finished, she gave the rope to Gage so he could start practicing.

"You can never start too early" Wells said.

Harry Haythorn, Jack Ricketts and Eldon Walters had their model trains set up in the Leu Room inside the main building. Walters said that they brought half of their trains, but t took them three hours to set up the display.

Griffin said that the Friday night crowd for the North Platte Municipal Band concert numbered around 200. He hoped to have more than 2,500 visitors for the weened events.