News Summary

WEST CHESTER TWP. — The square dance was the highlight.

"It was entertainment to draw crowds at fairs," said Tom Trapp, owner of Bobcat Enterprises in West Chester Twp, of the hourly exhibition at the "Bobcat 50 Years Unleashed North American Road Tour" event at Bobcat Enterprises' location on Princeton-Glendale Road.

By noon, the event at the corner of Muhlhauser and Princeton-Glendale roads Wednesday, June 25, had attracted a parking lot of visitors, ranging from contractors in dusty pickup trucks to parents with wide-eyed children spilling out of family sedans to see the array of construction machines set out on display.

Bobcat Enterprises Cincinnati branch manager Kimberly Trapp said the event was one of 25 stops Bobcat plans to visit this year. The manufacturer's display included a tractor-trailer mounted time line charting the company's history, along with restored Melroe/Bobcat loaders from 1958. Trapp said Bobcat Enterprises' 33 years of business attracted the manufacturer to stop there.

"They definitely wanted to choose (dealers) who had been with them for a long time," she said.

Most of the space at the event was filled by demonstrations: contractors drove a radio-controlled skid-steer loader through an obstacle course and lifted basketballs from traffic cones with an excavator, trying to beat the clock and win gift certificates and other prizes.

"It's an experience thing — being around it for years," said Dennis Kossen, an employee with Sharonville based Ford Development Corporation. He said past events at other Bobcat dealers included placing a raw egg on the tip of a traffic cone, using a spoon tied to the tooth of an excavator bucket.

But the center stage, complete with bleachers, was reserved for the square dancing. As four Bobcat Enterprises employees spun their skid-steer loaders and raised the buckets in unison, Tom Trapp said it took nightly practice for three weeks to nail the routine. He added, with a smile, that the work was worth it.

"We just brought it back because it is really cool," he said.

Contact this reporter at (513) 755-5127 or mcunningham@coxohio.com

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