Parade of Power!

Some time back, when we first told you we were going to stay in Benson this year, we cautioned you that we’d probably be telling stories of earlier travels. Here’s one now:

In August 2003, we celebrated our wedding anniversary by going to dinner at the Carriage House, an Amish restaurant in Yoder, Kansas, not far from Wichita. The next day, we took what was to be a short drive to Goessel, KS, to visit the Mennonite Cultural Center and the 30th annual Country Threshing Festival.

That “short drive” seemed endless across the flat farm land of central Kansas, but finally we arrived, just in time for the Parade of Power! We found a perch on a conveniently located hay bale and watched a showcase of early 20th century tractors, threshers and combines (remember, early 20th century was about 100 years ago now!).

From Power and Threshing Fair in Goessel, Kansas

(To see a larger version of this picture, or to see the entire album, click the picture! You can scroll around all the shots from this day, or just see one or two. To come back here, click on the back arrow at the top of your screen.)

From Power and Threshing Fair in Goessel, Kansas

Dozens of ancient and some not so ancient tractors lumbered by, some belching black smoke, most as noisy as a jet engine.

From Power and Threshing Fair in Goessel, Kansas

But each one registered approval or amazement from the many bystanders. Besides us, there were descendents of Russian and German immigrants, Mennonite farmers and their families, and the young and the curious.

From Power and Threshing Fair in Goessel, Kansas

After the parade of power, we joined the rest of the group out in the field and watched the old threshers (the machines were old, not the farmers working them) slowly and methodically cutting the wheat.

From Power and Threshing Fair in Goessel, Kansas

Kids! Lots of kids were there, some looking ahead to a farming life, others just enjoying the activities, the kettle corn, the noise, the glory of the good time with each other.

From Power and Threshing Fair in Goessel, Kansas

Toward the end of the day, we moseyed into the dining area and sampled Russian food prepared by the local ladies. I can’t begin to remember what we ate, but we remember it was delicious.

Earlier during the day, we listened as the local high school history teacher told of his research into how the town was named after a German boat captain, one K. von Goessel.

From Power and Threshing Fair in Goessel, Kansas

Captain von Goessel was lost at sea, and there were few details available. The painting was based on occasional scraps of memory and a New York Times article about the loss of the ship and its captain. It was known he had a beard and was blondish. The blue eyes, we believe, were assumed from his Germanic heritage. But the history teacher was able to tell his audience quite a bit about the man, his life and his connection to the immigrants who came to this area.

For non-farm people like us, this day was a marvelous opportunity to look into the life of rural communities across America early last century, and to meet some of the folks who live similar lives today.

From Power and Threshing Fair in Goessel, Kansas

There were some very big wheels this day in … Our Life on Wheels!

Now, if you can spare just a few more minutes, please do go take a peek at the whole web album. We've shown you just 8 of the 44 pictures, and some of the best are waiting for you to see there! To get to the album, just click on any of the shots in this post. Enjoy!