Celebrating the rich history of farming, the Farming of Yesteryear festival near Kiester kicks off this weekend

&uot;Our threshing festival has to do with preserving and demonstrating what farm life and social life was like during the early 1900s through the 1940s,&uot; Gordon Benson, an event organizer, said.

The festival starts early Saturday morning and runs through Sunday afternoon at a farm outside of Kiester.

Demonstrations will include the steam threshing of oats, a horse powered grist mill, horse plowing, a blacksmith shop, a country store and market, butter churning, carriage rides and a country schoolhouse and church.

Benson said the highlights of this year’s event will include a new church that has been put on the site, a display about the Lewis and Clark expedition in the one-room schoolhouse, a display recounting the history of the 20-year-old festival and, finally, a look at farming tractors from McCormick-Deering’s Farmall line of the early 1910s and 20s.

The weekend will also include entertainment such as concerts, bingo, a pedal pull, two parades, a raffle and kids games.

&uot;We just have a real good assortment of fun things to do,&uot; Benson said.

He said the weekend’s aim is to educate.

&uot;The festival just gets you closer to the earth,&uot; Benson said. &uot;We all know that food comes from farms. This weekend shows how hard early people had to work to make their farms go.&uot;

Benson said it’s not every day people get a chance to think about that.

&uot;We really got to sit back once in a while and think about our country and how agriculture was developed,&uot; he said. &uot;I think we can show you that here.&uot;

Admission is $5 for adults and is free for children 12 and younger.

Event calendar:

Saturday

-9 a.m. – Gates open

-10 a.m.-1 p.m. – Bingo

-1 p.m. – 20th-anniversary parade

-2 p.m. – JoAnne Lower

-3:30 p.m. – Stub Highway 253

-5:30 p.m. – Roger Passer

-5 p.m. – Free soup supper

Sunday

-6:30 a.m. – Gates open

-7 a.m. – Ecumenical church service in the 1874 Lime Creek Country Church

-8-10 a.m. – Breakfast

-10:30 a.m. – Al Batt

-Noon – Kids’ pedal pull

-1:30 p.m. – 20th anniversary parade

-2 p.m. – Dunnell Lenort

(Contact Peter Cox at peter.cox@albertleatribune.com or 379-3439.)