Millie and Mr. Nate

(Page 9)

Submitted by Rick Charlton
For "Millie The Massey" raffle winner, 81year-old Dennis Nate of Calgary, it was a surprise phone call in the beginning, a bolt out of the blue, a "what the heck are you talking about" moment . . . . . then nearly a month to finally set his eyes on the prize.
That the prize turned out to be a 1950 Massey Harris 44 tractor, functional, but well-covered in rust was eye-brow raising in itself. The fact she was the object of much unlikely love and popularity within the surrounding community might have been even stranger.
"You know, I used to ride around on all those kinds of tractors when I was younger," Mr. Nate mused after making the trek to the Millarville Racing & Agricultural Society racetrack where Millie the Massey is resting, a few weekends ago.
"There's hardly a make or model of tractor from that time that I haven't worked with . . . . . except that one," he concluded, pointing at Millie, the tractor that became the unlikely rallying point for the 103rd Annual Priddis & Millarville Fair.
Mr. Nate was unaware he was even a participant in the raffle until informed he'd won by his good friend Myrna McKay, who had paid for the $5 ticket and wrote his name down as a bit of a lark but one for which he is "sincerely thankful for."
The tractor was donated to the Fair by local businessman and collector Paul Teskey, with the caveat it be raffled off, with proceeds going to the Fair and the Alberta Farm Safety Centre.
In normal circumstances, any observer might generously conclude the market for an antique tractor raffle would be somewhat limited, but the Millie persona took on a life of its own after local heroine Canadian Armed Forces Capt. Riel Erickson of 419 Squadron decided to gather her fellow CF-18 fighter pilots together and buy a block of tickets, hoping to win the helpless tractor and use her for target practice at the Cold Lake Air Weapons Range.
That in turn led to a competing bid from the Turner Valley Fire Department, which wanted to use Millie for incineration practice as well as a push from "Heartland," the internationally syndicated television show which is partly filmed at the MRAS track facility. The latter wanted to win Millie, use her for a set prop in an upcoming episode and then donate her back to the Fair.
Any winner could donate Millie to any of the three factions as well so it really did come down to a choice of reducing Millie to dust particles or giving her a long retirement. With controversy burning the airwaves and newspapers, the Millie the Massey raffle turned into an overwhelming success for the Fair, with $10,000 worth of tickets sold.
However, it was the broad media attention and just a general air of good feeling and humour which eventually combined to push this century-old Fair to a record number of entries and record attendance.
For Mr. Nate, it was all pretty head-scratching at first but then he began reading about all the hubub on the internet before ultimately coming out to the Race Track to check Millie out and, Mr. Nate says, Millie will definitely be offered to Heartland for their use in an upcoming episode. Michael Weinberg, executive producer for the show, had already indicated, at the raffle draw, that Heartland would be willing to accept her for that purpose.