Farmfest 2011

The crowds of people at this year's Farmfest at Gilfilland Estates, Redwood Falls, MN, were treated to warm but pleasant weather, which was far better than the unbearable heat during the first two of the three days during last year's event.

Although Farmfest is a showplace for the newest and biggest farm machinery and all of the serious activity related to agriculture, the large tent called the Toy, Craft, Home and Garden Pavilion housed a variety of vendors displaying and selling things like Watkins Products, maple syrup, leather crafts, and toy tractors. And that is where Nancy and I had our Collector series of Farm Heritage books for sale.

As you can see, customers range from folks my age (above) to the very young (below). 

The young man on the left won the trophy he is holding in the pedal pull competition.

Leo and Mavis bought a book early in the day, and after reading it they returned later to buy the other two books in the series. I especially enjoy that kind of feedback. Good luck to them and their grandkids!

The young-people-but-not-little kids group bought books too.

This young fellow seems particularly pleased to be getting two books.

We had a number of young farm couples who were not yet married buying books for themselves, not for their future kids, because they were pleased and proud to be part of the farm heritage as shown in my stories.

On Thursday we took the two-hour drive home, and as we neared home territory, we stopped as dairy workers brought the cows back from pasture to be milked at Dave and Florence Minar's Cedar Summit Farm north of New Prague, which was the site of their annual Milkapalooza several weeks ago.

We enjoyed watching the cows cross the road and head to the barn.

Nancy and I wish to thank everyone at Farmfest for making the three days a great success.
I especially thank Troy Krause, editor of The Farmfest Gazette, for interviewing me by phone  before the event and then writing and printing a story about me and my books entitled, "Keeping State's Farm History Alive." The article appeared in the August 2nd issue of the paper and includes pictures of me and the cover of A Farm Country Picnic.
In his story, Troy thoroughly explains my purpose and goals for writing my farm heritage stories. I felt honored to be featured in an article of a paper that focuses on modern farming, and I felt that it showed an understanding by all those involved in agriculture of the importance of preserving their heritage in story form. Many visitors kindly stopped by our booth to explain that they liked Troy's story.

Photographs by Nancy A. Fredrickson