On Saturday and Sunday, the 2009 National Ropemakers Gathering will be held a few miles southeast of Kiester.

Admission is free both days, and there will be blacksmith demonstrations, food stands and a country shop. The Horse and Mule Fun Show will be held Saturday at 10 a.m.

The tractor pull will start at 11 a.m. Sunday, with weigh-in at 10 a.m. All hooks are $15.

There will also be a free clinic for driving horses and mules from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Beginners are welcome.

Kiester Days will be held Thursday through Sunday this year and will include a number of new events like a bed race, a tractor parade, but it will include yearly events like cow chip bingo.

Even though United South Central School System closed USC Middle School in Kiester in June of 2008, Kiester days will include an all-schools reunion with more than 400 people expected to attend.

“Our biggest thing this year, too, is we are having an all-school reunion, so we are expecting close to 500 people coming in,” Gloria Pederson, secretary of Kiester Civic and Commerce and treasurer of the school reunion committee.

The reunion starts at 4:30 p.m. Saturday at the old school, now the Kiester Town and Country Center.

Kiester Days kicks off with a celebration picnic Thursday at 5 p.m. on the south end of Main Street.

Cow chip bingo begins at 5 a.m. on Friday, and there’s also a classic car show beginning at 5 p.m. near the old school. There is no entry fee for the classic car show, and Pederson said they’re hoping for around 75 to 100 cars. Spectators vote and judge the car show, and trophies will be given out to the winners. “It’s just a fun one,” Pederson said.

Also beginning at 5 p.m. and ending at 7:30 p.m. will be the Lions Club Steak Fry.

“There’s a lot of activities that are planned one after another, so that people can go from one thing to the next, and still have time to just take a lawn chair out and relax at the park,” Pederson said.

The KIOW Radio Tractor ride will begin the parade at 10 a.m. Saturday. The tractor ride starts in Forest City, Iowa, and more than 60 tractors make the trip through Kiester and will then go to Wells.

After the parade, Kee Women will serve lunch in the park, and the USC Fine Arts Boosts will sell walking tacos. There will also be a cookout at the Kee Lanes bowling alley.

On Sunday, a new event will be bed races on Main Street at 1 p.m.

“You’ll race. There’ll be teams, and there’ll be actual beds on wheels. Someone’s going to have be on the bed, then people pushing the bed,” Pederson said.

There will be three people to a team with one person on the bed and two people pusing. Pederson said the race will be on a slight hill, so it won’t be too hard to push. The beds will be provided, so competitors won’t have to bring anything. Teams can sign up that day.

There will also be street dance both Friday night from 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. at Forever Berma’s and on Saturday from 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Saturday at the Legion. The teen dance will no longer be held Friday night.

At 3 p.m. Sunday, Stephanie Erdman will perform at the Kee Theater. Erdman portrayed Tammy Wynette in “Stand By Your Man: The Tammy Wynette Story” in the Albert Lea Community Theatre production in 2008. She also sings music from country legends like Loretta Lynn, Dottie West and Patsy Cline.

On Sunday, there will also be a firemen’s breakfast at the old school. And there will be a craft sale at the old school for much of the day Saturday, or as long as the venders choose to stay open.