Today Harold and I took some time off for fun. We went to the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion at Rollag, MN. This is an annual event every labor Day weekend since 1954. It celebrates the old time tractors, steam farm machines, farming history, old-timey crafts, music, fashion, cars and foods. This event attracts thousands of folks every day for the 4 days it runs, and the event is spread out over 210 acres. There is a steam locomotive train to haul folks around the park, and also shuttle buses, shuttles run by tractors, and wagons pulled by horses. The old steam threshing machines are huge and smokey and noisy, and the entire park soon smells like steam engines. But it's a fun event with something for everyone. We feasted on everything from carmel rolls and lefse, to sandwiches and potato salad. There is an hour long Parade of Tractors in the morning and the afternoon, and hundreds of old time tractors come slowly up the hill and down the road. There are historical demonstrations of old farming techniques and crafts and cooking and soap making, and lots of street musicians playing everything from ethnic Norwegian music to gospel to old country. It was a hot day and we did a lot of walking, but really enjoyed the day. I also bought a 5 lb bag of my favorite cracked wheat grain for bread making. The cracked wheat was ground in a steam powered mill. Every few years Harold and I try to go to Rollag for this event and we always have a good time. Here are some photos from the day.
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| The old steam threshers are fired up and ready for the parade. |
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| Smokey steam rises from the old machines in the parade. |
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| A close up of one of the old steam threshing machines. |
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| The tractor parade featured tractors from the 30's to the 60's. |
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| Another one of the big steam monsters. |
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| A 101 year old tractor! |
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| One of the horse drawn shuttles. Rollag countryside is in the background. |
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| Lots of antique cars around the grounds. Wish I had this one! |
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| A wall of old wrenches - any kind you would want. |
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| An old 1930's gas station in the history village. |
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| The old steam locomotive that drove folks around the park. |
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| This photo shows the size of these machines compared to normal sized tractors! |
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| Four draft horses hooked together and ready to pull threshing equipment. |
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| The steam locomotive comin' down the track. |
1 comment:
Could you post detailed instructions on how to can pears please? This will be my first time canning them. thank you
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