A Day At Rollag

Every year at the time of Labor Day weekend, folks around here ask each other:  "Are you goin' to Rollag this year?"  This means they are asking if we are going to the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion in Rollag Minnesota!  This is a yearly event that celebrates local history, pioneer days, old time tractors and everything about farming, and old time trades and skills.  And of course it features those huge and wonderful old steam powered tractors and threshing machines from around 1900.  There is something for everyone:  demonstrations of crafts and pioneer skills, lots of vintage tractors from 1900 to about 1975, people in costumes demonstrating cooking, and sewing and black smithing and farming, plenty of local musicians, a steam train ride, two tractor parades daily, and plenty of ethnic food (we're talking Norwegian food here!).  Several building have been moved to the event site and they are historical.   There are several homes from the pioneer days to tour, an old school house, a church where guest musicians sing and play hymns and gospel music all day long, and old time soda parlor, and just about every kind of steam powered machine you can think of.   It is a noisy active place with clouds of dark black steam everywhere as the old machines get going.   Because the reunion site is so large, there are shuttle buses to take folks around, and big school buses to haul folks back to their cars at one of many far away parking lots.  

We have been to the Western MN Steam Threshers Reunion at least 3 or 4 times and we see something new each year.   It is impossible to see everything in one day.   This is a 4 day event, but most people just pick a good day and spend at least 6 or 7 hours seeing everything.  The WMSTR is a living history event - a fascinating look back into years gone by and a real celebration of old time farming.  Every year is just a little bit different and there is always something new to enjoy.  If you want to see a video of one of the past events, go to www.rollag.com and click on "attractions" and there will be a video to watch.

Today we watched the hour and a half long tractor parade, rode the steam train, ate lots of good food prepared by the Salem Lutheran church folks, had a big ice cream cone of homemade ice cream and watched many demonstrations.   It is good to see young kids getting involved in farming history, too!  We walked around until we couldn't walk anymore!  I also go to the steam powered mill, and buy a couple big bags of freshly ground cracked wheat to use in my bread baking.   It is the best stuff!  You can watch them grind the wheat - so you know the cracked wheat is fresh.   All in all, it was a great day!  Harold and I have worked so hard all summer long with no breaks and no vacations, so we decided we deserved a fun day to just relax!  Here are some photos I took today.   It is difficult to take pictures of everything.  There were so many photo opportunities, but I tried to just hit some of the main attractions.

There was a very long line of traffic waiting to get into the park.  We had at least a 20 minute wait. 

Some of the old tractors are used to do things like grind corn cobs or straw for animal bedding.

There was a saw mill building and this old steam powered tractor provided energy for the mill.

A huge piece of wood is fed through the sawmill.

There are activities for little kids, too.  Here is a station that allows small ones to learn how to drive a tractor.

Here is a little boy enjoying "driving" an old John Deere.

The park gets a little grey with steam from all the steam powered engines that use either wood or coal to power them.

Here is a line of vintage early 1900's steam tractors ready for the parade.  It rained last night so the park was a little muddy in some spots.

There are food concession stands all over.   Here is one offering pork selections.

The parade of vintage tractors is beginning.

Many of the tractors are driven by ladies!  Can you imagine driving this thing?

There are buildings full of steam powered generators that used to power various area communities back in the old days.

Here I am hamming it up and 'puffing out my cheeks' pretending to lift a heavy anvil at the blacksmith shop.   In reality this anvil is hollow and made of thin metal and probably only weighs 10 lbs.

One of the local music groups playing old time Scandinavian tunes at the Freeport Mill where I bought the bags of cracked wheat.

The steam locomotive on the train you can ride around the park.

Besides the tractor parade, there is a parade of old time cars.

Some of the vintage tractors from the early 1950's.  As you can see, some of the tractors are driven by kids!

Here is a 105 year old tractor!

Here is a closer look at the above tractor that's 105 yrs old.   You can see how big it is!

An interesting and beautifully restored old tractor.

A vintage steam tractor belching out a big carbon footprint?

By the end of the parade, the smoke can get a little thick!  But what machinery!!  What power!!

One of about 10 parking areas in the fields around the WMSTR site.   Thousands of cars!  We had to take a bus to our lot!

Perhaps another year I can take pictures of some of the other events.  The last time I did a post about this event was on August 31, 2013 if you want to look it up on this blog.   Even though this is a huge event with tens of thousands of people attending every day, the event organizers do a great job helping folks, feeding them, and providing shuttle rides.   Everything is well planned, neat, and plenty of restroom facilities are provided.  There are lots of signs, trash bins and seating.   Most of all, it is a good FAMILY event!  Lots of kids here today having a ball.   Even us older kids!!