History comes alive at Threshing Days
Staff writer
Visitors to Goessel’s Country Threshing Days over the weekend got a look at equipment used by early area farmers and had a chance to explore other old-time experiences.
This year’s featured tractors were Massey Ferguson and Massey Harris.
Massey Ferguson was formed in 1953. Massey Harris was a predecessor, formed in 1891 when the Massey Manufacturing Co. merged with A. Harris, Son and Co. to form Massey-Harris.
Looking as if he’d driven straight from the field to the display yard, Goessel farmer Matt Voth brought his Massey Ferguson to the event.
He hadn’t realized his tractor was in the featured category until Thursday evening. Otherwise, he said, he would have cleaned it up.
Burns resident Rodney Koehn brought a 20-horsepower Bessemer oil field engine.
It’s part of a collection of Model A and Model T Fords, a 1929 John Deere tractor, a 1929 John Deere general purpose tractor, a McCormick Deering 10-20 tractor, a 1926 Ramely oil pull, and multiple single-cylinder engines.
“A lot of this old stuff doesn’t mean anything, so I share it with my friends,” Koehn said.
Every July 4, he and his wife set up a display for relatives and friends, but it has ended up being a lot of work for his wife.
“This is for the grandkids more than anything else,” Koehn said.
Three horse-drawn wagons circled the festival, taking on passengers for rides.
Breeder Gary Penner brought a pair of Percherons to pull a wagon driven by Chuck Rude of Lone Pine Stables, north of Rose Hill.
In the vendor area, Billy Hamm of McPherson operated a O-gauge train set that he and his brother, Ryan Hamm, own.
The cars are from a 1985 Lionel set and include a coal tender car that makes noise as it “tends” the coal.
Not only did the Hamms’ freight train set circle the track. So did a “Thomas and Friends” engine.
Hamm has been in love with train sets for years.
“Ever since my brother brought them home, and that had to be about 30 years ago,” he said.
He operated his toy railroad in a vendor barn to give children something to do while their parents visited vendor booths.
He’s missed being at Threshing Days only once.
Elsewhere on the grounds, sawmill and large engine displays were fired up so visitors could see them in operation.
Besides equipment displays, the festival included a parade, German meals, children’s activities, a pedal pull, threshing, draft horse and field demonstrations, steam tractor demonstrations, and vendors.