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Historic farm equipment will be running this weekend for the Legacy of the Plains Museum’s 26th annual Harvest Festival on Sept. 17-18.
The festival will highlight potato harvest demonstrations harvest this year — by hand, horse and machine.
“We do a five-year rotation, potatoes are this year and next year will be forage crops,” Dave Wolf, the Legacy of the Plains Museum executive director, said.
ABOVE: Rick Henderson guides his team of draft horses pulling a potato harvester at the Legacy of the Plains on Sept. 12. Potatoes will be harvested by hand, horse and machine during the 26th annual Harvest Festival on Sept. 17 – 18. LEFT: Rick Henderson is one of many volunteers who support the Legacy of the Plains Museum’s Harvest Festival. Work continues to prepare for the weekend festivities.
Potato digging and harvesting will be happening in the museum’s open potato patch, both Saturday and Sunday. Freshly dug potatoes will be on sale during the event for $4 per 10 pounds, $8 for 25 pounds and $15 for an entire gunny sack.
“There’s a guy coming with four mules to dig potatoes with a horse drawn digger for the weekend,” Rick Henderson, a volunteer with the museum, said.
Wolf said the horse or mule pulled potato digger works by driving a blade into the potato row to unearth the potato. Once out of the ground, the potatoes are augured to be loaded into a bag on the back of the digger or turned onto the ground for hand gathering.
“It’s pretty basic, the digger’s blade goes down into the ground, gets the potatoes and basically puts the potatoes on the ground,” Wolf said. “Then people will come along with sacks and bag the potatoes.”
In addition to potatoes, there will be a wide range of activities for all ages including: the hay bale fort, pedal tractors, barrel train, tractor pulled wagon rides, farm animals, corn maze and much more.
Rick Henderson guides his team of draft horses pulling a potato harvester at the Legacy of the Plains on Sept. 12. Potatoes will be harvested by hand, horse and machine during the 26th annual Harvest Festival on Sept. 17 – 18.
“We had lots of people ask where (the corn maze) was the last couple of years so we brought it back,” Wolf said.
He said the corn maze will be ready for the Harvest Festival weekend and remain open until the corn is harvested.
“We will harvest the corn once it dries out and then we use the cobs for our corn demonstration,” Wolf said.
The museum will have the blacksmith shop, Gentry Cabin and Wiedeman Farmstead open for living history activities both days.
“Those buildings will have actual family members in them for the most part,” Wolf said. “The Gentry Cabin should be all members of the Gentry family. Hopefully, we’ll have Betty Wiedeman, who was the daughter of Dave and Marie who built the house.”
Food vendors, Dale Blehm and the Snowy Bus, will be onsite as well as a bake sale inside the museum. The museum exhibit hall will be open for anyone attending the festival. Other indoor activities will be cookbook and raffle ticket sales, a museum membership table and gift shop.
The event is from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $5 for ages 13 and up for the weekend.
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Nicole Heldt is a reporter with the Star-Herald, covering agriculture. She can be reached at 308-632-9044 or by email at nheldt@starherald.com.
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ABOVE: Rick Henderson guides his team of draft horses pulling a potato harvester at the Legacy of the Plains on Sept. 12. Potatoes will be harvested by hand, horse and machine during the 26th annual Harvest Festival on Sept. 17 – 18. LEFT: Rick Henderson is one of many volunteers who support the Legacy of the Plains Museum’s Harvest Festival. Work continues to prepare for the weekend festivities.
Rick Henderson guides his team of draft horses pulling a potato harvester at the Legacy of the Plains on Sept. 12. Potatoes will be harvested by hand, horse and machine during the 26th annual Harvest Festival on Sept. 17 – 18.
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