Sequim Irrigation Festival isn’t the only civic celebration on wheels.

The Sequim Museum Tractor Cruise held on Nov. 27 was “a wonderful addition to the home town holiday activities,” according to Sequim Museum & Arts director Judith Reandeau Stipe.

This year 65 tractors — some towing trailers with family members — showed up with more lights than in the past.

“Six years ago, we began this tradition to remind us of the three or four old tractors, decorated with green and red crepe paper that circled the area around Sequim High School (circa 1960),” Stipe recalled.

Dana Davis, Emily Westcott and other volunteers asked museum representatives to sponsor the event that packed the streets with spectators, Christmas music and the farm machinery. Stipe likened the tractors to rusty “old work horses” that are “simply pieces of art that have more to contribute in their lifetime.”

She added, “Like the character of their hard working owners, who restore or do their own repair, the beauty of the old iron and metal is a valuable reminder of how the Sequim prairie and Dungeness developed.”

A rather humorous anecdote from this year’s tractor parade, Stipe noted, was a driver of a large truck who showed up to be in the parade.

“(There was) no way to convince him of this fact while he insisted his rig was a ‘tractor-trailer’ and demanded to be included while blocking the lanes keeping the other tractors from joining the parade,” Stipe said. “So to avoid this confusion for some, we are thinking of a ‘whatever Christmas Cruise’ with anything invited to come with holiday decorated vehicles.”

The museum, Stipe said, was proud to sponsor Sequim High School Future Farmers of America (FFA), adding a special “thank you” to teachers Bill McFarlen and Candy Sellye, and all the students who helped.

“We can’t overlook how they take the ‘farm to table local food commitment seriously with their drive-up dinners so check out their schedule,” Stipe said.