Saturday, Sept. 6, will be a special day at the Historical Village next to the Freeborn County Fairgrounds on North Bridge Avenue. That’s when the Freeborn County Museum, Library and Historical Village is again sponsoring the annual &uot;Autumn In the Village.&uot; And this Saturday, the event will have several added highlights and be open for several added hours. Those hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

First and foremost, the focus of &uot;Autumn In the Village&uot; will be on a significant sesquicentennial in the county’s history.

&uot;This year we are connecting with a special piece of Freeborn County’s history. In 1853, Ole and Astri Livdalen built a small log cabin on the Minnesota prairie southeast of Gordonsville miles from the nearest neighbors. In 1909, their cabin was moved to the fairgrounds, and we’re doing our best to preserve it. Those early cabins were never meant to survive more than a few years until the owners could build a more improved home, so we are indeed fortunate to still have this building,&uot; said Bev Jackson, executive director of the Freeborn County Historical Museum.

As part of the 150th year observance of the Livdalen cabin, an official U.S. Postal Service stamp will be used to cancel postage on Saturday.

Jackson explained that Linda O’Neil, postmaster at Geneva, will be selling special picture postcards of the historic cabin, stamps, and doing the cancellation of the postage. This will take place in another old log cabin in the village which has furnishings from the pioneer Clarks Grove Post Office.

An invitation has been extended to the descendants of Ole and Astri Livdalen to attend this event. Responses have been received from family members in Minnesota and Iowa, plus Colorado, Montana and California. A special service for them is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. in the village’s Norske Evangelisk Luthersk Kirke (the former North Round Prairie Lutheran Church).

Autumn In the Village will also feature several other interesting aspects of local life. One is the sale of souvenir bricks from the recently demolished Farmland (Wilson/Farmstead) plant on Saturday.

Jackson explains that there are about 800 bricks which were donated by the Viet firm for use in fund-raising. Some are yellow in color, taken from the locker room of the 1933 A & P Feeds structure. The remainder are red bricks from the 1937 Engine and Boiler room buildings.

During the day there will be food items such as apple pies, barbecued pork sandwiches, hot dogs, popcorn and even the beverage known as sarsaparilla available for purchase.

Kelly Callahan will be making antique appraisals for $3 per item. Accordion music will be furnished by Betty Thompson. Other events will include spinning, wood carving and corn shelling demonstrations, square dancing, fur trading interpretations, entertainment by a clown, country school activities, and tractor pulled wagon rides.

Saturday has been officially proclaimed as Livdalen Cabin Sesquicentennial Celebration Day by the Freeborn County Board of Commissioners. Their proclamation states Sept. 6 is &uot;A day to honor those whose foresightedness provided the foundation for a prosperous and progressive Freeborn County.&uot;

(Contact Ed Shannon at ed.shannon@albertleatribune.com or call 379-3434.)