Many David Browns, John Deeres, Zetor, and Massey Fergusons attended the weekend memorial service for a teen.
On December 4, 15-year-old Matthew McCallan, who would have been 16 yesterday, passed away from hypothermia.
For a 15-mile charity run to Dungannon in County Tyrone, tractors from farms all over Northern Ireland came on his hometown of Carrickmore to commemorate the event.
Hundreds of people showed up to see the parade and sang Happy Birthday before the balloons with the words Forever 15 and 16 were released.
The parade was led by Matthew’s mum, Frances, who said he would have loved the event.
She said: ‘He’s here, having a ball with us. We went to his grave this morning and put flowers on it. I’d a good cry and then just said, “that’s it, this is just a special day for Matthew and I’m going to enjoy it”.’
Grandmother Margaret Ann called the event ‘more sweet than bitter’, adding: ‘The generosity of people is unbelievable. I can’t believe there are this many tractors in Northern Ireland.’
300 tractors turn out to commemorate teenager
The celebration comes after months of pain for Matthew’s family. Frances said: ‘It’s been awful; horrific. Unless you have lost a child you won’t understand.
‘I’m empty. There’s part of me missing. My whole daily routine has changed. As a person, you’re changed. I’ll never be the person I was again, but I am a different person now and I’m fit for anything to be perfectly honest.
‘Whereas I would have been shy before — doing an interview, I would have hidden away from that — but now, I’m prepared to do anything.
‘I was going to say I can’t believe it [the generosity of everyone], but I can believe it, because there’s good people out there and the support they have given us this past couple of months has been amazing.
‘Matthew’s friends are amazing, I love them coming to the house, and all this today just speaks for itself and what people thought of him.’