A historical event returns this weekend in Greene County.

The 20th annual Old-Fashioned Threshing Bee is this Saturday and Sunday at Pleasant Prairie and Foster Timmons Farms. Saturday’s attractions begin with threshing demonstrations at 10am and 2pm. Co-organizer Nick Foster describes how a threshing bee works.

“It sits in one spot. The steam traction engines power it via a flat belt. You hand pitch oats, or wheat, similar crops into this machine, and it separates the grain from the chaff. So you can give your oats to your horses or whatever you are doing, and then you would bed your animals typically with the straw.”         

Foster points out the “heyday” of these machines was in the 1890s. He adds that attendees are encouraged to participate by pitching oats during the demonstration times. Another highlight on Saturday is a steam plowing demonstration at 4pm. Foster talks about that demonstration.

“These are actual prairie breaking plows. That means these are the machines that broke the prairie, or plowed the prairie, tilled it for the very first time. So we don’t do things like they did it, we do things exactly the way it was done.”

Saturday wraps up with a free barbecue meal at 6pm. 

Then on Sunday will be a tractor ride starting at 7am going up to Lohrville and back. The day ends with the final threshing bee demonstration at 2pm. Both days, attendees can enjoy an antique tractor and truck show. Everything is free. The location of the event is at 1176 M Avenue in Jefferson. To hear more about the event, listen to today’s Community State Bank in Paton Let’s Talk Greene County program.