Nowthen Threshing Show

The annual Threshing Show at Nowthen Minnesota is always a bustle of activity. This year the organization held its 41st show and it gets better every year.

The show features antique cars and tractors, a parade, free rides around the grounds, a tractor pull, pedal pull competition, an active sawmill (the smoke in the above picture is rising from the sawmill), and too many displays to mention.  There were lots of antique vendors and food vendors. The ice cream vendor was among the most popular during the beautiful, sunny, but pleasant day.

Preserved buildings to visit include a filling station, a country school, a church, and many more. 

 This year we were invited to attend on Saturday, August 20th to perform a couple shows in the country schoolhouse, and the members allowed us to sell our books nearby.

Nancy smiles by our table of books.

This proved to be a good spot for us to sell books because we were next door to a building that offered hands-on activities for children on one side of us (above), and on the other side of us ladies were cooking chicken soup in an old-fashioned kitchen and selling it to passers by (below). The fragrance was terrific!

The windows of the cabin where they made the soup were open (far left) and customers enjoyed the food on shaded tables nearby. 

I got to sign some books and Nancy and I got to visit with a bunch of really fun people during the day.

Like all of the threshing shows, the Nowthen show is, indeed, a show for the whole family, but it seems the organizers of the Nowthen Threshing Show make a special effort to attract kids of all ages. As you can see from the pictures above, the show is full of parents with their children and that's always a sight that lifts the spirits.  

My 3:30 PM show in the country school.

Thanks to Sharon Wilhelm for arranging my visit to the Nowthen Threshing Show, and I especially want to thank the board members for allowing me to perform in the school house and to sell my books in front of the building. As you can see by the pictures, we were able to reach lots of families with our message of preserving farm heritage. Nancy and I hope to return next year.

Photographs by Nancy A. Fredrickson