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 On June 30th, 2013, the main building of the business was
severely damaged by fire. Over the last two years, the Schmidt
family and their employees have worked out of temporary buildings
while creating a new dealership facility that is in a
word…breathtaking.
It’s hard to imagine that a business that sells farm equipment can
be classified as beautiful, but that is the first word that came to
mind for a lot of folks as they stepped inside the entry to the
store's showroom floor on Saturday afternoon.
The building has an expansive showroom filled with retail
merchandise. Even though there is a great deal of merchandise on the
floor, the area is large and airy and offers plenty of room for
shoppers to browse without feeling crowded.
Also featured predominately in the display room is a vintage
International tractor sitting alongside an equally impressive
vintage Case. At one time, years ago, the two tractors were
manufactured by two separate companies. Even though the two are now
one large manufacturer, it seemed very fitting that the dealership
would pay homage to the past, as the Schmidt family in general is
very mindful of its own roots, and the small blacksmith shop opened
in 1898 that today has grown into a large, family owned organization
employing more than 90 people.
 Inside the front door there are separate offices for each of the
sales staff, a really neat coffee bar area with a counter and seats,
and a very large service desk area for the parts and customer
service department.
The shop area of the new building is equally impressive. On Saturday
all the equipment needing repair, and the various tool boxes and
tools had been cleared out and replaced with a couple hundred tables
with white cloths and chairs in preparation for a dinner that would
be held for the community in the evening.
Schmidt talked about the new building briefly saying that it was
indeed almost three times as large as the old building. Though the
fire had not entirely destroyed the old building, Schmidt pointed
out only one smaller area at the far end of the new structure as a
portion that was kept, everything else is brand new.
With everything else cleared out of the building, one permanently
attached piece of mechanics equipment stood out as predominant in
the room, or rather on the ceiling.
With today’s extremely large farm equipment, it sometimes takes some
pretty big tools to get the job done. One such tool is the 10-ton
winch system mounted to the ceiling. Schmidt said that when they
decided to go with that tool, they thought it was something that
would be very useful and important….on occasion. However, he noted
that now that it is in and working, the crew uses it almost daily.
As an example, he said they had a large combine that was going to
have the engine pulled completely out. Before the big winch, he said
it would have taken a number of technicians working hard to
accomplish such a task. However, on the day the engine came out with
the new winch, he said the work was done entirely by one technician
and the heavy duty tool.
 Along the perimeter of the shop, there were various displays set up
by local vendors and businesses that work closely with Central
Illinois Ag. CIA’s Marketing Coordinator, Abby Coers, pointed out
that several of the vendors the company is associated with had been
very supportive during the rebuild and had been in planning the
grand opening celebration. Therefore, the vendors had been invited
to join in the fun on Saturday, and also bring their own promotional
displays for visitors to see.
She also pointed out a special display that CIA is promoting that
will benefit local FFA chapters. Last year CIA took in two antique
tractors on a trade-in deal. One was a 1953 Farmall Super M and the
other a 1948 Farmall Cub. Coers said CIA sent the tractors to
Parkland College to be rebuilt mechanically. She explained they
wanted to give the Parkland students the experience of working with
antiques. She noted they chose Parkland because a high percentage of
their new hires are graduates of the Parkland Diesel Mechanics and
Technicians program, and the school turns out some great young
talent. The tractors were also professionally painted in their
original colors and markings, and have now been donated to the
Illinois FFA.
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At the table with the tractors was Bryce Hoffman, Ag instructor and FFA leader
at Olympia High School. Hoffman talked about the raffle of the tractors that
will benefit the FFA chapter of the winner’s choice.
Any FFA chapter that wants to be involved in the raffle may do so by selling
raffle tickets. On the ticket, when it is purchased, the buyer has an
opportunity to name the specific FFA group he or she would want to give the
money to. When the drawing is held, the proceeds of the raffle will go to that
specified chapter. The drawing for the two tractors will be held in June of 2016
at the Illinois FFA Convention held in Springfield.
Hoffman, who is an Olympia Alumni, is teaching Ag in the classroom at his alma
mater for the first time this school year. He noted that being involved with
this raffle for his school was a great way to kick off his new career at
Olympia.
In the center of the shop, floor tables were set up for a dinner that would be
held at 5 p.m. Saturday night. Schmidt said that it would be the second dinner
of the celebration, the first had been held on Friday night. He explained that
on Friday, more than 400 guests had been present by invitation only. That dinner
had been to honor the employees at Central Illinois Ag and some other select
individuals.
On Saturday evening, the entire community was invited to a second dinner.
Schmidt said there would be 1,000 meals served on a first-come-first-served
basis. After dinner, the band Brushville was going to put on a free concert.
Schmidt said that the Grand Opening celebration was not so much about
celebrating the new building as it was about celebrating and thanking the
community and CIA staff who had been so supportive after the fire and during the
re-build.
He explained that the fire occurred on a Sunday morning. On Monday, he was at
the scene working on the clean-up alongside his staff, but at the end of the
day, he had to leave the state to attend the funeral of a close family member.
He said that the CIA staff took over and continued working diligently on the
clean-up while he was gone.
In addition, he said, members of the community came out to lend a hand and
others still made trips out to the dealership with food and cold drinks. He said
with certainty that the staff at CIA and the community were the driving force,
keeping things moving forward while his family was dealing with two separate bad
situations, and he was thankful for each and every one of them.
So, now that the worst is behind for the business and the family, and the future
ahead, there is only one thing left to say, congratulations on your success CIA!
You went through a bad situation and came out on the other side all the better
for it.
[Nila Smith]
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