July 27, 2006 at 9:58 a.m.
Threshing Company celebrates milestone. Has it been half-a-century already?
Threshing Company celebrates milestone. Has it been half-a-century already?
Bennett said his guys will have done some kind of project on about half the structures at the threshing show grounds by the time they wrap up their assignment.
“It’s a great experience for the guys to get out, learn useful skills and see places,” Bennett added.
The ICWC is from Lino Lakes Correctional Facility. Bennett said the guys learn how to work with power tools, handle basic carpentry and also learn how to work as a team. At the same time offenders are reportedly more successful upon release and re-integration when they’ve had an opportunity like ICWC.
There are 11 specialized crews operating out of four correctional facilities in Minnesota. Participants are minimum security custody and there are no sex offenders allowed on these crews, Bennett said. They’ve worked at everything from assisting at DNR wildfire sites to municipal golf course improvements.
A fancy way to explain the origination of the Almelund Threshing Show was as a “tribute to the Industrial Revolution’s impact on agriculture.” The short description is it’s a fun place to step into history and get right in the middle of the smells, noise, and sensations of way-back-when.
Even after 50 years, the Almelund Threshing Company remains a group of folks who basically share a love of steam-powered machines. The threshing show event, though, has broadened over the decades to where the Chisago County Historical Society has become quite involved; under its educational and public service umbrellas.
Sherry Stirling, County Historical Society Director, said when the society was given a chance to preserve the one-room Clover Blossom Schoolhouse (it used to be Shafer Township Hall) “...we needed someplace to put it.”
Coordinating moving the building to the threshing show grounds “opened up our relationship with them,” said Stirling. Now the Historical Society has a classic old Shell gas station, log house, a rail depot, mercantile store and Clover Blossom Schoolhouse on the grounds that it’s responsible for. The society has also been involved with improving the county’s historic courthouse structure, relocated from Center City when the Government Center expansion took place.
Stirling said the society has found a natural niche on the threshing show grounds, working with the basic agricultural theme as an opportunity to bring in weavers, a butter-maker and other old tyme life-skills exhibitions preserving and presenting history. (This is not a fundraiser for the Historical Society, all the group sells is copies of its county history book.)
The Threshing Show organization also has a steam powered sawmill and blacksmith hut for the public to wander and allow themselves time to imagine the past.
Or, for some visitors, to conjure up personal memories.
A day at the Threshing Show might include purchasing a treasure or two at the huge flea market, listening to live music, having a hearty meal and watching the crew crank out board feet at the massive steampowered mill. Grab a beer or a delicious milk shake and watch hundreds of vintage tractors rumble by in the daily parade.
Kids have a petting zoo, play equipment and large sandbox to enjoy. There’s a tractor-pull and bleachers for viewing the competition and so many more unique things offered, it’s not practical to list everything.
This year you can register to win a 1950 Minneapolis Moline R tractor.
The idea for the threshing show concept came to life in the early 1950s-- when an Almelund firefighter saw an ad in a newspaper placed by a farmer in Amery, Wisc. announcing he’d be threshing grain with steam equipment and anybody who wanted to, could come watch.
The Almelund Fire Department and local farmers put on their first “threshing show” in 1956 at the Art Abrahamson place.
A few years and several different locations later, the organization incorporated as the Almelund Threshing Company (in 1991), and the 100 acres or so off Hwy. 95 were acquired as a permanent site.
The Almelund Threshing Show is a major fundraiser for the Almelund Fire Dept. and the Lions Club. Four H members help manage the parking areas on horseback. There’s camping available.
Admission is free for kids age 12 and younger. Tickets are $8 and can be used for entry all three days of the event.
Threshing Show organization spokesperson Charlie Erickson mentioned membership is $20 and annually after dues are $20.
The non-profit group has about 100 members he said. Talk to anybody with the group at the brown, centralized headquarters building while you visit the show if you’d like to learn more.
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