Lake Itasca Region Pioneer Farmers' show keeps north country ways alive

The Lake Itasca Region Pioneer Farmers show Friday, Saturday and Sunday featured parades, tractor pulls, children’s games and all the amenities of an old-fashioned village.

There were also demonstrations of logging equipment, sawmills, steam engines and a vintage threshing machine – although technical difficulties cut Saturday’s threshing demo short.

Jody Ranisate said the thresher, manufactured in the 1930s by Wood Bros., was donated to the chapter by her late, great-grandfather Ole Ysen, who was a founding member of the pioneer farmers. Her cousins, AJ and Shawn Ysen, now own the machine.

“It’s a great piece of history,” said Ranisate. “There’s not a lot of them that currently run. The nice part about this machine is, having it here, it’s well maintained.

“There’s a lot of them around, but they’re just sitting in fields, just rusting out. Nobody is really taking care of them. Nobody is seeing the importance of them. Nobody is seeing the real history of them. That’s what’s so great about these shows.”

She said it’s important to understand the history of farming and where your food comes from, especially in times like the ongoing pandemic. To people who say, “We get our food from the grocery store,” she replied, “Where do you think it comes from? There’s so much more to the farming aspect than people realize, than just shelves in the grocery store.”

Descendants of the late Roy Hemmerich traveled from as far away as California, Colorado and Kansas to take part in the family’s 26th year of demonstrating logging skills and equipment, including Roy’s second-hand sawmill on Sawmill Hill and a variety of hand- and motor-powered saws, much of it donated to the show grounds.

They also used a two-horse team to show how lumberjacks used to pile logs onto sleds, also hauling a log back into position after it rolled off the top of the pile.

Also on display were vintage farm toys, logging industry memorabilia, rustic arts and crafts, the old Arago town hall and schoolhouse, the former Osage First Baptist Church and more.

Other attractions included an extensive tractor parade – also featuring antique road grading equipment, fire trucks and a Triumph motorbike – as well as a kids’ pedal pull, a tractor pull, live music and lots of food.

Although participants came from far and wide, it was apparent from parade announcer Tim Johnson’s patter that the pioneer farmers are a close-knit community, almost a family, devoted to keeping the history of the rural northwoods alive.

1/14: A 1926 Twin City tractor owned by Adam Selzler of Bemidji runs in the parade at the Lake Itasca Region Pioneer Farmers show Saturday in Itasca State Park. The brand was made until 1929 by the Minneapolis Steel & Machinery Company, one of three firms that merged to become Minneapolis-Moline. Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise, Aug. 21, 2021

2/14: Children enjoy a ride on a lawn tractor-powered barrel train Saturday at the Lake Itasca Region Pioneer Farmers show. Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise, Aug. 21, 2021

3/14: Terry Baird, Thore Thorson and Kevin Fettig straighten a farm implement in the blacksmith's shop at the Lake Itasca Region Pioneer Farmers show Saturday in Itasca State Park. Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise, Aug. 21, 2021

4/14: Liam Kangas, 6, puts effort into the kids' pedal pull Saturday at the Lake Itasca Region Pioneer Farmers show. Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise, Aug. 21, 2021

5/14: Chuck Yliniemi carves a wooden duck decoy in the Albert J. Levorsen Logging Memorial Building Saturday at the Lake Itasca Regional Pioneer Farmers show. Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise, Aug. 21, 2021

6/14: Myla Martin, 6, pedals for all she's worth in the kids' pedal pull Saturday at the Lake Itasca Region Pioneer Farmers show. Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise, Aug. 21, 2021

7/14: Bob Gartner and Brad Johnson use an old-school lath mill to cut boards into thin strips of wood during the Lake Itasca Region Pioneer Farmers Show on Saturday. Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise, Aug. 21, 2021

8/14: Levi Anderson of Grantsburg, Wisconsin drives his 1945 D8 Caterpillar in the parade during Saturday's Lake Itasca Region Pioneer Farmers Show. The cat previously belonged to the Clearwater County Highway Department. Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise, Aug. 21, 2021

9/14: Matt Gladen of Bemidji drives his 1962 D17 Allis Chalmers tractor in the parade at the Lake Itasca Region Pioneer Farmers show Saturday in Itasca State Park. Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise, Aug. 21, 2021

10/14: Cara and Joe Stang, with children Wyatt and Lizzy, buy a whistle from a cashier, also named Lizzie, Saturday at Wallingford's Grocery on the pioneer farmers show ground in Itasca State Park. Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise, Aug. 21, 2021

11/14: Trent Jensen supplies the power for a mechanical man to swing his hammer, sending a weight up to ring a cymbal at the Lake Itasca Region Pioneer Farmers show Saturday in Itasca State Park. Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise, Aug. 21, 2021

12/14: Members of the Lake Itasca Region Pioneer Farmers demonstrate a steam-driven sawmill Saturday at the show grounds in Itasca State Park. Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise, Aug. 21, 2021

13/14: Dave Leinonen of Cokato watches as Bruce Hoffman of Carlos demonstrates a replica vacuum engine, while a gas flame keeps a Sterling hot air engine running nearby during Saturday's Lake Itasca Region Pioneer Farmers show. Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise, Aug. 21, 2021

14/14: Amy Johnson of Rochester and her nephew Greysen Wood of Princeton check out a waterwheel-driven washtub Saturday at the Lake Itasca Region Pioneer Farmers show. Robin Fish / Park Rapids Enterprise, Aug. 21, 2021