BUCKHANNON – Middletown Tractor Sales in Buckhannon may have opened just a month before the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, but its loyal customer base, dedicated employers and owners’ vision for the future sustained MTS’s Upshur County location, despite a slew of road bumps.

So, on Friday and Saturday, July 15-16, county officials, company executives, committed customers and longtime employees gathered at MTS’s newest location on Billingsley Drive to celebrate the grand opening of the business’s fourth location with an official ribbon-cutting sponsored by the Buckhannon-Upshur Chamber of Commerce.

Buckhannon’s new MTS location, which offers compact tractors, tractors for farmers, landscapers, gators, side-by-sides, compact construction equipment, used equipment and a parts and service department as well as tools and equipment for lawn and garden tractors, celebrated two years in that location as well as the Middletown Tractor Sales’s 70th anniversary.

As their slogan goes, enough people had made Middletown Tractor “their main factor” by visiting the certified John Deere dealer to bolster the local, family business through the trying times brought on by the COVID pandemic.

At Friday’s ribbon cutting and grand opening ceremony, MTS president Adam Boyers said he was grateful to be standing at the podium, welcoming everyone to MTS’s grand opening.

“As the saying goes, it has not been easy sailing the past couple of years, but we’ve managed to navigate the treacherous waters and we’re super excited to be here today,” Adam Boyers said. He told the story of how his grandparents, Dallas and Elaine Boyers, had started a small ‘feed-and-seed’ farm supply store in Mannington, W.Va. in 1952 and they had “on the side, done some John Deere sales.”

“Over the years, as the seed and feed fell to the wayside, the lawn tractors and the farm tractors became more and more of the business,” he said. “My father got involved and spent most of his life in it; I spent most of my life in it and we’ve grown to four locations in two states and are just super proud of the brand that is Middletown Tractor Sales.”

Adam Boyers recounted how Upshur County Commission president Kristie Tenney had reached out to him when MTS was searching for land for a fourth location in 2019 and the plot he saw at 136 Billingsley Dr. in Buckhannon and Upshur County, seemed like an ideal place to grow the business.

“It was a great location, the building was the right size, it’s got enough land for us to do what we needed to do,” Boyers said. “Tom Shaw, the former owner, was a great guy to work with, and so we were able to make a deal.”

“We began making renovations inside, they were going well, they were on time, we wanted to get open before our busy season, and on a Wednesday in February – February 12, 2020 – we opened the doors to the business,” Boyers recounted. “Everything was going great, and then about 30 days later, the world kind of shut down, and COVID and the pandemic put everyone into havoc.”

“The havoc has maintained over the past couple of years, but we are super excited to be able to be here today,” Adam Boyers added. “It’s not ideal to have a grand opening a couple of years after you open your doors, but that’s the hand we were dealt and because of the community support that we’ve had here in Buckhannon, we were able to still be here in business today to celebrate this day. I’m excited to be here to open this facility today to open this facility in the great City of Buckhannon, in the great county of Upshur, in the great State of West Virginia, so I really appreciate everyone coming out today and recognizing us.”

Adam Boyers thanked his employees and Buckhannon store manager John Gladwell for showing up every day and “putting their best foot forward” regardless of the particular pandemic restrictions they were facing.

Jim Boyers, Adam’s father, said he was proud to have grown the business into one that serves four locations in two states – Buckhannon and Fairmont in West Virginia and Uniontown and Washington in Pennsylvania.

“It’s hard to maintain a business that many years now through plague … pandemics, through financial problems, through employees, through inventory,” Jim Boyers remarked at the July 15 ribbon cutting. “It’s really hard to maintain, but we’ve done it, and we continue to grow and we hope to maintain that. I’m very, very proud of what’s going on as a family, as a West Virginian and I hope Upshur County and the local counties realize it and help support it.”

Jim Boyers reiterated Adam’s thanks to MTS many dedicated employees, whom he called “huge assets.”

Upshur County Commission president Kristie Tenney and commission Sam Nolte were on hand to thank the business for its investment in Upshur County.

“I was really hoping COVID wouldn’t derail your plans,” Nolte said. “I hear it all over the community that everybody is super happy to have you here. We appreciate you and we thank you for making this investment.”

Regional representative for Governor Jim Justice Lynn Phillips offered a few words on the governor’s behalf, saying that MTS meets the needs of every outdoor equipment necessity “whether you are homeowner, farmer or landscaper, they have the equipment that will tackle any workload.”  

Additionally, representatives from the offices of U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, D-WV, and Rep. Alex Mooney, R-2, intimated that the Mountain State was lucky to have family-owned businesses like Middletown Tractor Sales doing business in and throughout north and south central W.Va.

“I thank all three generations of Boyers who have steered this family-owned business with great success, their employees and everyone else responsible for making today’s ribbon cutting a reality,” Manchin’s representative, Michael Garcia said, reading a letter on the senator’s behalf. “Truly, West Virginia is fortunate to have local businesses like Middletown who have exceptional workforces of this caliber …. I worked in a small business all my life and I can attest that there is no more challenging or rewarding endeavor.”

Rhett Dusenbury, district representative for Mooney, also offered the congressman’s well wishes to MTS and presented the Boyers family with a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition.

“The history of your company is a wonderful story of a family-owned business and how through hard work, you can achieve the American dream,” Dusenbury read on behalf of Mooney’s office. “[Middletown Tractors Sales] has provided the citizens of Upshur County with an option for farm and lawn equipment at competitive prices” as well as “much needed local jobs. This notable achievement demonstrates your dedication to excellence and your commitment to quality.”

MTS hosted a combined 70th anniversary-two-year anniversary celebration, complete with a chicken barbecue and live radio broadcasts Saturday, following MTS’s grand opening in Buckhannon.