Pioneer Farmers Show celebrates rural Minnesota | Ningbo Ceramsite Production Line Co.,Ltd

Lake Itasca Region Pioneer Farmers’ (LIRPF) showgrounds bustled with chugging engines and puffing tractors.

On the third weekend of August, the non-profit organization invites visitors to “reach into rural America’s past” during its annual three-day festival.

In addition to demonstrations, the 84-acre showgrounds feature about 40 historic buildings, such as the Lake Itasca Post Office, an 1897 Arago Township schoolhouse, a 1937 country shoppe, the 1887 Osage Baptist Church, a 1902 log house and many other memorial buildings.

The village is located at the north entrance of Itasca State Park, off State Hwy. 200.

All of the members are volunteers dedicated to the preservation of historic, rural agriculture and logging.

A.C. Gaber and Andy Mack, both of Bemidji, were featured on this year’s show button.

In his efforts to get Gaber, his friend, recognized, Mack said, “It kind of derailed.”

“He’s here all the time working, so I approached the board indirectly,” he explained.

One week later, the board decided both of them would be highlighted on the 2023 button.

Mack has been a LIRPF member for the past 20, 30 years.

“I’m a farm boy from North Dakota. Born and raised on a farm, so a lot of the stuff that’s used and on display reminds me of my childhood,” he said.

Four generations of his family joined him at the show.

“We’re hoping that by bringing the offspring here, they’ll develop an interest. That’s our future. I’m 80 years old, so I’m on my way out,” Mack said.

“That’s our future, right there,” he added, pointing to his 4-year-old great-grandson, Cayson Mack. “We try to be as inclusive as possible.”

William and Elliot Olson of Roosevelt, Minn. returned with their cement block-making demo. The Montgomery Ward machine, sold in the 1940s, was courtesy of William J. Gesell Concrete Block Company.

“I’ve got one just like it at home,” said William.

They shovel sand into the contraption, tamping and packing as they go. It’s slow, laborious work.

The mixture can’t be too wet or too dry, adds Arlee Olson.

Typically, the block would require a week to a month to cure.

Delchi Fafach of Bemidji joined LIRPF about two, three years ago.

“It’s been great for us. It’s part of a homeschooling opportunity,” he said of the eight kids in his family. “The young ones really enjoy it, too.”

Fafach praised club members for their generosity of time and teaching various skills and crafts.

“Every month, they do an open class” at meetings, he said.

Abigail Davies looked like she walked straight out of “Little House on the Prairie” in her white, flowing homemade dress. “I made it because I wanted to,” she said of the reproduction. “It’s from a drafting book from the 1890s.”

“It would be a summer, fancier dress, kind of like the jeans and T-shirt of today,” Davies said. “It’s very light.”

Davies lives about five miles from the showgrounds. She’s been involved with the show for almost 20 years.

“My grandparents were involved, my parents and now us,” she said.

Ken and Laurie Brein of the Clearbrook-Leonard area were crowned king and queen of the show.

On Sunday, LIRPF hosted the Minnesota State Championship Old-Time Tractor Pull.

Incorporated in 1976, LIRPF has been located by Itasca State Park since 1990.