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During the last century when a John Deere tractor was
non-existent and draft horses were the way to plow the land, farmers
spent long, hot days in the sun doing back-breaking work. Did they
ever imagine their great grandchildren having access to air
conditioned tractors and state of the art machinery that could do
the job in half the time? The public has the opportunity to see how
our forefathers farmed when the Farm and Ranch Museum in Gering
holds its Fourth Annual Harvest Festival Sept. 16-17.
According to Marvin Crom, the show director, this year's festival
will feature sugar beet harvesting equipment from the last century.
"We will have some harvesting of sugar beets," he
explained. "We may even do some pulling with horse-drawn
equipment and some topping using hand labor.
"The Harvest Festival is an opportunity for us to show the
museum off to the public," said Crom. "We want to show the
public what agriculture was like in the last century."
In addition to sugar beets, Crom said, the festival will also
feature demonstrations on threshing, old tractors and steam engines
and baling with hand-tied balers.
"We will also show the public plowing with horse-drawn
equipment," Crom added.
Demonstrations on hay mowing and stacking and corn shelling and
grinding will also be featured.
One of the more unique presentations will be the drilling of a
well using an old, antique drilling machine.
Crom said he welcomes outside exhibitors with antique tractors or
equipment to participate in the festival. "Any one who wants to
exhibit in the festival is quite welcome," he said.
Food concessions will be available during the festival. A church
service will also be held at 9 a.m. during the Sunday program. The
festival is free to the public and will be open from 9 a.m. to 5
p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 16 and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday,
Sept. 17.
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