Corn picking event a flashback to the olden days

Farmers from near and far brought out their antique farm equipment to the Old Time Corn Picking Day at the Brown County Ag Museum in Hiawatha on Saturday.

An annual event sponsored by the Brown County Historical Society, the Corn Picking Day was originally started five years ago by Hiawatha High School senior Nathan Wright as an FFA project. The event was started at the Ag Museum, then held on the family farm one year. The past few years the Historical Society took the reins to keep this tradition going, along with help from the Antique Tractor Club. A little over seven acres with corn is planted annually just south of the Ag Museum barns and other buildings to be harvested for corn picking day.

Larry Day, Historical Society vice president, said they were very pleased with this year's outcome, as farmers came from neighboring counties as well as from Missouri for the annual event.

"We have so many pickers here we are rationing to two rows each," he said. "We have 48 rows, so that gives everyone a chance who brought a picker to harvest some. It's going great and we have a lot of visitors out here too."

Among the visitors were Debbie Fee, her daughter Jeni Flach and grandchildren. Fee said her father, Marvin, was part of the tractor club and brought a corn picker out and they came out to watch the event as an ag family.

"I am glad they do this," she said. "I wish more people would come out and see this and realize how it was all done. It's just not going to be around forever. We are losing an era of farmers interested in this type of thing."

Brown County Commissioner Bill Pollock agreed. He had stopped out to watch and check out the corn and all of the equipment.

"It really is pretty neat," he said.

Board member Tim Wenger was pulling the trolley with a tractor up and down the corn rows for people who stopped out. Fellow board member Ryan Shockley also was working on an antique sheller — property of the Historical Society — that was breaking down.

Board member Larry Adcock said the sheller had rusty chains that Shockley and others had been working on getting going. He pointed out an antique tractor that was probably a ‘50s model he thought, owned by Alan Torkelson.

"He cleared the field for us to start with that old combine," Adcock said. "It's really a beautiful day — it's kind of amazing how many people showed up."

Adcock said many farmers had finished — or were close to finishing — their own harvest, so were able to attend the event.

President Gary Shear said the event was great, he was very, very pleased.

"We got people from my gosh — everywhere — even over in Missouri," Shear said. "We feel it will just get bigger and better."

He wanted to thank Griff Howard, who furnished the corn seed and also planted the 7.8 acres of corn. He said down beyond the corn field was seven acres of soybeans — provided by Hooper Farms, with Ag Partners donating the spraying. He said Shockley harvested the soybeans on Sunday.

The new Jere and Patty Bruning Building was opened for the event as well and there were many visitors out to the Ag Museum to see the corn picking.

"The community did a great job of supporting us," he said.

He said several farm ladies and wives of board members helped in the kitchen of the Carwell Building, where a chili lunch was provided by Jim Wolney. Alan Torkelson furnished the meat.

It was a long, but successful day, Shear said.

"Two tractors broke down on the way home, so we got those going and finished up the day by 5 p.m." he said. "We are looking forward to next year."

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