Laurie Ballard MacKenzie recently made a decision — a decision to step up and lead fellow horsemen, horsewomen and families in a campaign to bring Mainers to the harness racing tracks. Living in Plymouth, Laurie has long been a member of a Maine harness racing family. A major disappointment for today’s harness horsemen is the lack of…

Maine’s Starting Gate & Tailgate Museum is a traveling museum on top of the bedsides of a 1967 Chevy C-10 Pickup. The museum is an initiative of the Lost Trotting Parks Heritage Center. The intention is to travel to Maine Agricultural Fairs and other public locations to tell the stories of Maine’s agricultural heritage as it relates…

This post features a Hoof Beats Magazine article from 1939. Its topic: Jim Butler and the Butler Head Numbers!

On January 14, I visited with John Butler in his Lewiston home. John is 93. He goes to work everyday for two hours. In the mid-1930’s his uncle Jim Butler invented the Butler Head Numbers. When John came back from World War II his uncle asked him to join the company. John first day of work was…