Dixie Chopper kicks off 30th year with YouTube video contest

Owner/founder Art Evans sits on the first Dixie Chopper mower, No. 0001, after it was refurbished and repainted following more than 25 years of use in the field.

As a novel way to kick off 2010 and help celebrate its 30th anniversary, Dixie Chopper has announced a video contest titled "Who Loves Their Dixie Chopper Lawn Mower."

The crux of the contest is this: Dixie Chopper owners and/or those who use Dixie Chopper equipment are invited to submit a 60-second (or shorter) video that will be posted on You Tube, telling the world "Why I Love My Dixie Chopper."

The contest winner will receive a Dixie Chopper Magnum mower, the company's new entry-level commercial-grade model that is debuting in 2010.

The contest period will run from Jan. 18 through May 31, 2010. Winner will be announced in June.

The winning video will be selected based on originality, message and degree of devotion to Dixie Chopper, as well as the popular vote by viewers of You Tube.

There is no entry fee required to participate. Full contest details are available at www.dixiechopper.com.

Dixie Chopper is celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2010 as maker of "The World's Fastest Lawn Mower."

The very first Dixie Chopper zero-turn mower was completed by owner/founder Art Evans on April 15, 1980 in an old dairy barn on the farm property of his late parents, Lucille and Phillip Evans.

That property, just outside Fillmore, Ind., continues to be the headquarters for Dixie Chopper, one of only two family-owned lawn mower manufacturers in the United States.

Dixie Chopper unit No. 0001 was used weekly by the Evans family to mow their property for more than 25 years before it was retired while still in working order.

The green-and-white Magnum 5018 model mower has since been refurbished and repainted for display as a museum piece.

The new Magnum mower series pays homage to that original Dixie Chopper, which featured an 18-hp Briggs & Stratton engine and a 50-inch cutting deck. The 2010 Magnum series marks the return of Briggs & Stratton to the Dixie Chopper horse-power stable. The new mower features a 27-hp Briggs & Stratton Professional Series engine and comes with either a 50- or 60-inch deck.

The more than 100,000 zero-turn mowers Dixie Chopper has produced and sold over the past 30 years have all been manufactured and assembled in Putnam County. Humphreys' Outdoor Power, 950 N. Jackson St., Greencastle, is the local retail outlet for Dixie Chopper mowers.