OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — The floor looks like a manufacturing trade show in the Fairgrounds Pavilion. But standing next to all these heavy-duty products are the teams of FFA and 4-H students who built each one over the past few months. John Velo and his team from Arapaho-Butler built a first-c lass smoker on wheels. "It's 16 feet long," says Velo. "We welded the frame," says Chloe Morris. Conner Kreizenleck points out, "it's got these nice wood countertops." Cooper Henson and Brian Garlington from Grandfield started in early October building what they wanted to see in a welding trailer. "The cool thing about this work station," Henson adds, "is that everything folds up." Cash Creiner from Porter filled up half his high school shop constructing his big flatbed. "It'll haul anything from a pallet of concrete to a 200hp tractor," he boasts. Walk around this building and you'll see 252 different projects from restorations, to big builds, wood to metal, representing months of work, and much of it for sale. Former Ag teacher Jerry Renshaw has seen the Ag Mechanics Show at OYE build itself into all this. previous More Great State Stories Building better machines at the Oklahoma Youth Expo Oklahoma’s Most Famous Herd: The Slash-O-Ranch Longhorns prepare for parade season Oklahoma’s Most Wanted and their colorful stories in one exhibit If you're worried about the future of manufacturing talent in America, walking around this week is good medicine. "That's right," he agrees. "If you walk in here you'll find somebody who can do it all." It was Cooper Prince's grandfather who gave him the idea to build a wood stove out of an old backhoe blade. "You open it here," he demonstrates, "and you can put all the wood you want into it." Madeline Willis, from Marietta, appreciates her great-grandfather's 1968 Ford pickup tailgate more than ever since she injured her knee playing softball. She built a comfy bench with it. "He used it as a peanut hauling truck on the farm." Austin Linfelser and Egan Carter welded a slick Thunder porch swing. "It took us 3 weeks to get it done," he recalls. Wood projects were a new addition to the Ag Mechanics Show, but no one expected Clara Zapata, Zalei Meyers, or Payton Frost to bring in a whole playhouse they built in Fort Supply. Waylon McKinney didn't even know Carpet Ball was a game until his Ag teacher in Marietta had him build a Carpet Ball table out of red cedar. The largest project here might be put to the best use. A small team from Arnett took a surplus Army truck that saw action in Afghanistan to build a custom brush pumper fire truck for the Arnett, OK Fire Department. "They asked us to build this one and another one," a member of the team tells us. Useful, helpful items welded, grinded, sanded, and finished. Most of it is also for sale, and all of it, from the ground up, comes from Oklahoma's best. The 2025 Oklahoma Youth Expo runs from March 11 to March 21 at the Oklahoma City Fairgrounds. For more information including a schedule go to okyouthexpo.com. Great State is sponsored by True Sky Credit Union Follow Galen's Great State adventures on social media! ...read more read less