In 1967, the Butterfield Steam & Gas Engine Show made its debut at Voss Park. That first year, the Bee was just a one-day event. Members of that first Butterfield Threshermen’s Board included Wayne Kispert, president; Frank Harder, secretary; John Ekstrom, treasurer; along with Wayne R. “Bink” Hanson, Ed Streich, Otto Wolner, Art Ommodt and John Pankratz.
That first show was a tremendous success as attendance, with an estimated 15,000 people on hand. Voss Park has hosted the Bee every year since then. The non-profit event was changed to a two-day event in 1968. It is coordinated by dozens of volunteers each year and has grown beyond the threshing by leaps-and-bounds.
This year, the 49th-annual edition ran from Friday afternoon, August 14 through Sunday, August 16. This year, Oliver was the featured tractor; an Oliver 70 Row Crop proudly appearing on the Bee button. And Fords were the highlighted automobiles
Today’s nine-member Butterfield Threshermen’s Association Board include President Howard Madson, Vice-President Doyle Janzen and Directors Dave Buhler, Mike Hall, Bruce Koenig, David Harder, Jim Lepp, Steve Ringen and Jim Nasman.
Below is a photo gallery from this past weekend at Voss Park’s – it was indeed, a very “Bee”sy time:
THIS 24-HORSEPOWER Minneapolis steam tractor provides the power to run the double-winged 32″ Minneapolis threshing machine – the shocked wheat or oats grown on the 12-acre plot at Voss Park being fed from two different directions.
JUST LIKE AN old-time threshing photo post card in sepia – a reddish-brown color associated with monochrome photographs of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
THE CHAFF AND straw “extras” spew from the spout of the 32″ Minneapolis double-winged threshing machine, owned by P. K. Laingen – with some caught by the southerly breeze.
A COMPLETE SHOT of the threshing process – running from right-to-left.
ON THE “CASE.” A line-up of Case tractors stand at attention in the newest shed at the site, one that features tractors donated from the collections of Ed Lammers and Art Ommodt.
AN OPERATING 25 horsepower Acme Sucker Rod Gas Engine, owned by Jerry “Badger” Fastenow of Spirit Lake, Iowa.
GLEN ADRIAN, CENTER, and his “team” operate the Saw Mill, a gas tractor belted up to the mill powering the blade.
RIGHT NEXT TO the saw mill, Erland Wiens of Lewiston, front, along with his brother, Leon Wiens, behind, demonstrates this saw rig. It was purchased in northern Wisconsin as a front-mount to be used as a portable unit. It was modified to be used as a free-standing unit – and can be used both ways. A side table and shield for the blade were added as safety precautions. Powering the rig is a 1950 John Deere Model B – believed to be the first purchased and used in Iowa. It was purchased by Wiens’ uncle, Ted Peters of Delft, and was newly purchased and repainted by Defries Collision Center in Windom in 2013. Both Erland and Leon are graduates of Butterfield-Odin Public High School.
MIKE MCCABE, SEATED in the tractor cab, polishes up its windows. McCabe had this 1966 1850 Oliver for sale.
ROBIN KOENIG IS set to do the dinner dishes after heating up the dishwater in a pan hung over the fire of the wood-fueled fireplace. During the Bee, she “lives” the life of the 1870s and 1880s in the Log Cabin. It was brought to Voss Park in 1988 from the Nibbe farm. It was originally built around 1875 by Lars Hanson and discovered in 1932 by Arnold and Thea Carlson when they were remodeling – finding the cabin walls under the home’s siding. The cabin includes the main floor of kitchen, living room, dining room and parents’ bedroom, along with a loft, a bedroom for the children.
HOW THAT SAME photo would look if taken “back in the day.”
TUBERG MILL AT right stands guard over the 130-year-old Tuberg Homestead, at left.
ISAAC STRIEMER HOLDS the reins for Bruce Koenig’s stead, Andy, demonstrating the grinding of oats by horse power from a bygone era.
THE HORSE IN the Children’s Barnyard gives the photographer the “stink eye” for disturbing for a moment the head scratch and rub being given by Delton Anderson of Redwood Falls, right.
SCHOOLMARM ANITA BAERG Vatndal leads her students in the lesson of the moment in the District #12 Schoolhouse. The school building is originally from two miles east of Odin and was built in 1879.
FOLLOWING THE TEACHER’S instructions on making a pan flute (out of various-cut lengths of plastic straws) is Jaydon Doescher of Windom., seated at one of the wooden school desks.
BEFORE IPADS AND laptop computers – even before lined notebooks and pens and pencils – there was the slate and chalk on which students wrote their lessons. Learning about that story are Nolan Gerber, left and Cameron Gerber, right. The brother and sister were at the Bee with their grandpa and grandma, Dave and Joyce Bucklin.
CHILDREN’S TOYS AND games of the time are front-and-center in the front window of the General Store.
AND HOW THAT scene would look as an old sepia photograph.
THE TACK IS ready. All that is needed are the horses – and the riders – and Pete’s Harness Shop will do a booming business.
THE BRIDLES, SADDLES, bits and other items how they would appear in an old sepia post card.
ETTA SCHROEDER WELCOMES guests to the Mennonite House, built in 1871. It is a preserved museum of the domestic life of 19th century Mennonite immigrants. It was the first stick-built house in Midway Township in Cottonwood County (other dwellings were dug-outs or sod houses). Etta’s late husband, David Schroeder, grew up in this house; the son of Mr. and Mrs. D. G. Schroeder. The Schroeders purchased the house for their home in 1927.
ADJACENT TO THE Mennonite House is the Summer Kitchen – and Marie Helferich is busy mixing up another batch of cinnamon rolls to be baked in the brick oven. The Summer Kitchen helped settlers keep their homes cool in the summer by doing all the cooking and baking in that “extra” building. Pioneer women used corn cobs and prairie grass for fuel; during the Bee, Summer Kitchen volunteers use corn cobs. Heating the oven takes about a bushel and a third of cobs.
BUTTERFIELD THRESHERMEN’S ASSOCIATION Vice-President Doyle Janzen makes certain that all of the moving parts in all of the steam engines on display in the Steam Power House are well-lubricated with oil.
BLACKSMITH JEREMY GILBERTSON pounds the hot metal into the shape of a miniature horseshoe in the Blacksmith Shop as part of the many demonstrations going on throughout the Bee.
BROOM STRAW, BROOM handles and twine – all of the items that Chris Nibbe needs to make various kinds and sizes of brooms. Broom choices include an RV broom, a fantail or double fantail broom, a short fireplace broom, a corn husk mop, whisk broom, a unique and tiny pencil broom – or just an ordinary broom broom. The first step is attaching the brooms straw to the handle using wire. A vise holds the unfinished broom while the stitching is done. Broom-makers operate the machine by using a foot pedal, leaving their hands free to guide the broom. The final step is trimming the straw to the proper length.
THE CHICAGO & Northwestern switch engine – with Engineer Kevin Oeltjenbruns of Comfrey at the wheel – is set to take the Threshing Bee Train away on the rails from the Granada Depot.
THE ENGINE AND train makes its way through the Bee “tunnel.”
THE VIEW OUT the Slaalien Livery Barn’s side room’s window – taking a look at a couple of buggies, a sleight, cutter and water pump. The barn gets its name from Hans Slaalien, a Norwegian pioneer who immigrated to America in 1882 at the age of 20, settling south of Butterfield. He also rented sleighs, cutters and a carriage. He would charge 15 cents to bring passengers from the train depot to the center of town. He would also pick up freight at the train station and bring it back to the livery for customers to pick up. In addition to shoeing horses, he cared for teams of horses while their owners conducted business or did some shopping in town. The Voss Park livery barn is a copy of Slaalien’s historic barn.
A SEPIA SHOT out that same window.
KENDAL BAERG, STANDING, operates a burr mill (feed grinders or flour mills), grinding kernels of corn into meal, while his son, Dakota, seated on the grass, observes the workings of the whole process. The burr mills were restored by Kendal’s dad, and Dakota’s grandpa, Dale Berg of Butterfield.
NEW ULM’S OWN Maggie Schwab provides examples of chair caning and seat weaving in Engine House No. 1. Inside are found handcrafted and handmade items, spinning of wool, candlemaking, rug-making on a loom, quilting with a treadle sewing maching and butter-making demonstrations.
THE RECIPE FOR lefse – a Norwegian treat that resembles a type of thin bread, like a crepe, is tacked to a Voss Park shade tree.
THE TREAT IS made fresh over the course of the weekend, and above, Kristy Haseman of Butterfield, rolls out the dough; set for the stove.
DEB HANSON IS at the stove, grilling the lefse and turning it with a special flat stick. Lefse is most often served with butter and sprinkled sugar.
THE ROPE-MAKING showcase features twine in an assortment of colors that is strung from a rope maker that consists of a lever and gears – to a small hand tool with four notches that is held by one of the workers. Above, Nathan Sandbo, center, and his son, Burke, left, crank the lever and gears, while Pete Paulson, right, works the hand tool with notches to create the rope.
MANY MUSICAL ACTS appeared on the Voss Park Stage, including, above, the Mountain Lake Gospel Singers.
PERFORMERS ALSO INCLUDED Karen Haseman of Butterfield, left and her her cousin, Laura Romsdahl of Brookings, South Dakota, right. With Haseman on guitar and Romsdahl on mandolin, they are “Home Grown.”
AT THE BEE, ENGINES are everywhere – powering everyone – including the giant-size ice cream makers at the Speedway Builders 4-H Club stand. Above, Ryan Blomgren stirs the homemade ice cream recipe in one of the ice cream freezers.
ARNIE QUIRING OF Windom found a shade tree right next to his vintage Ford tractor.
GLEN LETELLIER OF Mountain Lake, right, along with his son, Casey Letellier of Siloam Springs, Arkansas, left, scope out this 1956 John Deere 80 tractor.
JIM RICARD OF Winnebago preps for the antique tractor and vehicle parade by finding a comfy spot in the shade of this John Deere’s tractor wheel. (And, the tractor is for sale!)
TAKING THE OLIVER 70 Row Crop tractor out for a parade stroll are Barb Mathistad Warner at the wheel and her husband, Mark Warner, riding shotgun. Oliver was the featured tractor at this year’s Bee, and this specific machine appeared on the 2015 Threshing Bee buttons.
ANOTHER VINTAGE OLIVER 70 Row Crop tractor – this one with a cab.
FORD CARS RECEIVED honors as the featured automobiles. The oldest Ford on site is this 1911 model, owned by Lyman Holmes of Windom.
THIS WOULD HAVE been perfect if Henry Ford had taken a photo of the auto and used as an old sepia post card promotion of the horseless vehicles.
ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF a Ford product – the 1956 Mercury Monterey 4-door hardtop. The Monterey is owned by Glen Juner of St. James. (As a Mountain Lake Laker – loving those orange-and-black colors.)
THE 65-HORSEPOWER Case steam engine once owned by Wayne Kispert, but now the property of the Butterfield Threshermen’s Association. It was the focus of the first-ever Threshing Bee in 1967.
THAT CASE STEAMER in sepia.
A MINIATURE REPLICA of the Case Steam Engine, power and heat served up by wood.
VANCE BLOMGREN TOOK his Grandpa Clarence Blomgren’s McCormick Farmall C on the parade route, accompanied by Katie Borneke. Clarence’s grandchildren take turns bringing the tractor through the parade. Above, Vance does the honors in memory of his late youngest brother, Ross, who was tragically killed during a car accident last December – and whose turn it was to drive the Farmall during the Saturday afternoon parade .
BINGHAM LAKE’S ALVIN “Bud” Fast celebrates the “Long Green Line” with his 1955 John Deere 50.
SITTING IN THE “catbird seat” driving this Farmall H are Jason Lepp of Butterfield and his daughter, Abbey.
BRIANNA RINGEN OF Butterfield, whose dad, Steve Ringen, is a member of the board of the Butterfield Threshermen’s Association, drove this Case 930 tractor through the Bee’s Saturday afternoon parade.
JERRY HABERMAN OF Mountain Lake drove a number of tractors on the parade route, including this Allis-Chalmers D-21.
THOSE HABERMAN RURAL roots also reach Jerry”s sister, Jackie Jurgens of Windom, the driver of this 1948 Ford 8N tractor, owned by the Haberman family.
HANNAH STOESZ OF Mountain Lake took a spin through Voss Park on this 1955 McCormick-Deering Farmall F-20, owned by the Jerome and Marilyn Stoesz family.
GETTING HIS PRIME shot from his perch on the fender of a vintage John Deere Tractor is Kent Staubus of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, a professional photographer who has spent 12 years covering Threshing Bees in the Upper Midwest.
AND, OF COURSE, the Bee visit would not be complete without a vanilla ice cream cone served by Joyce “Ma” Peek following the parade from the Hollenitsch Drug Store’s “drive-thru” window, located on the side of the building. About 4,000 are dished up each Bee. The Hollenitsch family opened a drug store in Butterfield at the turn of the century.
