In general, Jewell County residents were delighted for the gentle rain that blanketed the county and for cool, damp weather over the weekend. However, those who have ever helped with threshing wheat know it process works best in hot dry weather. Above, a group of men push the Model T truck used to haul grain up hill through the mud at the Jewell County Threshing Bee.
Each year the threshing equipment is set in place and men pitch wheat bundles into the stationary machine driven by a steam engine. The wheat and chaff are separated and the Jewell County Historical Society Model T truck delivers the wheat to the local elevator.
The 43rd Jewell County Historical Society Threshing Bee and Antique Tractor Show was a great success because of the hard work of the volunteers and committee members and all those who attended. Saturday morning started off with heavy rain, but it turned out to be a beautiful day. The Lutheran Church Kids served breakfast both Saturday and Sunday starting at 7:30 a.m. until the food was gone.
The Peterson Farm brothers, Greg, Nathan and Kendal, entertained the crowd from 10 to 11 a.m. They held a meet and greet until noon where they sold shirts, posters and a children's book along with plenty of picture.
The day continued with the traditional saw mill auction which was held by the steam engines this year. It ran right into the parade where there were more than 85 entries. Many people brought their John Deere tractors, combines and lawn mowers for the threshing bee.
This year's honoree was Doyle "Hooley" Alcorn. Hooley has been a major organizer of the threshing bee from the beginning when he and a group of friends brought their antique tractors and engines to the City Park 44 years ago in 1978. (Last year, 2020, was skipped because of COVID.) Hooley has only missed one threshing bee and that was because he was in the hospital. He has worn the same straw cowboy hat to every threshing bee. He has several family owned antique tractors he shows in the parade.
He has the distinction of operating tractors of this era as well as driving horses and mules as he worked his family farm outside of Ionia. Over the years, he has been responsible for lining up tractors, steam engines and draft horses for plowing, a blacksmith shop and a saw mill. His wife, Pat, has been in charge of the vendors in years past. Son Jack has taken on many of the responsibilities. (With some encouragement from Dad, of course)
Hooley has always been active in the Mankato and Ionia communities. After returning from an army tour of duty that included the Battle of the Bulge, he worked for the REA for more than 40 years. His love of baseball took him from town teams to coaching little league games. His work with the city council and county commission kept him active in his community. At the age of 96, he was with his family to enjoy Jewell County Threshing Bee 43.
The Rolling Hills Electric Co-op honored "Hooley" for his 42 years of service at Rolling Hills Electric. They also presented a safety demonstration. They gathered quite a crowd.
A new item was on display in Building no. 1 was the Waupun Wooden Windmill donated by the Howard Herrmann Family. A plaque is placed on the windmill telling its story. Doug Thomas, Mankato, the current owner, donated the windmill. Richard Ridgeway, Mankato, completely restored the windmill to its former glory.
The vendors at this year's events provided a variety of food and snacks to choose from. Summer Snow Shaved Ice, Belleville, Prairie Gourmet Kettle Corn & Cowboy Pork Rinds and Cowboy Prairie Dust Seasoning from Rossville, Kan.; AnTeaQue's from Courtland; Nub's Grub from Madison, Neb.; Fun Fun Funnel Cakes, Smith Center; K-Z Cotton Candy from Beloit; a Nacho Stand by the Weaverling family; The Catholic Church women served food in the main shelter house; M8T Customs, Mankato; Aj's Treasurers, Mankato; Sassy Kats, LLC, Salina; Callaway Sales, Mankato; Youngevity (Jamie Underwood), Jewell; and several other vendors.
Youngsters' activities were the traditional Washer Hunt. Prizes for this event were donated by Carrico Implement of Beloit and Jewell Implement of Jewell. The winners for Saturday were Logan Brown, Topeka; Clayton Underwood, Beloit; Addison Silsby, Topeka; Haven Silsby, Topeka; Karley Garst, Mankato; and Landon Reiter, Mankato. Sunday's winners included: Soren Stratman, Topeka; Elam Stratman, Topeka; Oliver Reiter, Montrose; Richard Reiter, Montrose; Ava Angleton, Esbon, and Val Jean Reiter of Formoso.
Helping Hands Ministries had a booth with free water and information about Operation Christmas Child.
The Mankato Chamber of Commerce sponsored the Watermelon Squeeze event again this year; there were 20 teams of two. The first team's watermelon exploded around 9 minutes and 45 seconds. The team members were Brecken Shulda and Autumn McCormik.
A Steam Engine Principles and Operations demonstration was held by Cliff Silsby in front of the stage with the Russell steam engine. There were a lot of people who got to learn how a steam engine functioned. After this event, Becky Fernandez handed out bags of candy in memory of Deb Garman which included train whistles, whistle Pops (suckers that whistled) and Deb's Root Beer Barrels that she had at the museum when she was the curator.
Throughout the afternoon, there was wheat threshing, steam engine saw mill, straw bailing, corn treasure tank, corn shelling, kids' tractor pull (It was held, but did not record winners as they only pulled one round). The dunk tank had a lot of action as the Rock Hills FFA ran this event. Sam Meyers, principal, was a great team player as he sat on the dunk tank while youth tried to dunk him in the afternoon. Chris Rhea, science teacher, took his turn on the dunk tank along with several of the youth. This is an event that is loved by all.
The saw mill was fired up and cut three different species of wood for the auction. The auctioneer this year was Cody Murray. Those who helped run the saw mill are greatly appreciated. The Saw Mill workers were Bradley and Pamela Engelbert, Gary Colson, the steam engine crew and several others.
The blacksmith shop was fired up, literally, as you could see the flame over at the registration table. The steam run rock crusher was pushing steam throughout the afternoon.
The tractor pull took place on Saturday with the Small Class: first - Tanner Shipman, pulled 3,665lbs; second - Oren Underwood, pulled 3,141 lbs; third place was Oren Underwood pulling 2,764 lbs. Medium class tractor - first place was David Reiter pulling 5,779 lbs; second place - Oren Underwood, 5,026lbs., third place - Waude Underwood pulling 4,277lbs. Large Class first - Bill Thomas, 6,408 lbs; Caleb Eilert - 4,744lbs.; Tyler Cummings, 5,026 lbs. Heavy weight Class: first - Oren Underwood pulled 7,163 lbs, second - Waude Underwood, 7037lbs and third was Nathan Saint pulling 6,659 lbs. The tractor pull was run by Brad and Karen Cockroft and the pull back tractor was driven and owned by Dale Wright.
On Sunday morning the speaker was Roger Cooper (his wife, Gwen) who sang several songs and gave the message regarding his life and how God has worked in the life of others that he has met throughout the years. He stuck around to meet and greet after the service.
It started to rain again around 11a.m., but it cleared off around 1:15 p.m. so the parade was followed by another saw mill wood auction. Unfortunately, because of the mud, the tractor pull was not held. However, there was a new event - a lawn mower race. There were three different races, the first being the Fast Class, Slow Class and a Reverse Class. Winners of the Fast Class was Dalton Garst, Peter Smith and Jacob Smith; the Slow Class winners were Aaron Underwood, Dalton Garst and Peter Smith; and the Reverse Class winners were Dalton Garst, Peter Smith and Jacob Cockroft. The committee decided to try this again next year.
To finish out the day was the drawing for tractor, which was a 1953 John Deere 50. It was won by George Hennion, the pedal tractor was won by Janette Anderson (daughter-in-law of Bill Anderson) and the 50/50 drawing was won by Cody Murray.
There was a stream of volunteers at the registration booth including Karen and Leon Boden, their son, Jason Boden, Harlow Vader, Jo McCammon, Mary McMichael, Tammy Jansen, Sue Shoemaker-Shea, Becky Wright-Fernandez and son, Carlton Wright. Sammy Nance ran the main gate and many other volunteers ran the additional gate. Unfortunately we do not have a list of those volunteers.
Music and announcements were heard throughout out the park thanks to Moonlight Workshop LLC, Herman and Becky Fernandez.
The Jewell County Historical Society President Jack Alcorn, Vice-President Delvin Hanson, Secretary Becky Wright-Fernandez and all the committees and members thanked everyone who attended this year's Jewell County Threshing Bee and hope to see them next year.
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