Museum curator harvests first Threshing Days
Staff writer
Goessel Mennonite Heritage and Agricultural Museum curator Ben Schmidt faced his first ever Threshing Days over the weekend and, though he was tired on Monday, he said it was a fun learning experience.
“It seemed to go pretty well, because the rain and clouds kept it pretty cool,” Schmidt said. “The museum saw a lot of people, so that was also great. I had a lot of good conversations.”
Schmidt showed visitors around the museum, answered their questions and helped to find items family members had donated.
“There was a man who came through and a family member had donated an old Case combine,” Schmidt said. “It was one of the kinds you pulled behind a tractor. It was actually in our storage so it was kind of hard to find, but I helped him find it and he told me all sorts of stories about it.”
Schmidt enjoyed telling museum visitors about the town’s culture and past.
“A lot of the people who came through had no exposure to Mennonite history,” Schmidt said. “They came to see the tractors or something else, and that was cool because they got to see the history of the Mennonites.”
Though Schmidt himself was not a farm kid, he still had a fun first experience at Threshing Days.
“I didn’t grow up in a rural community, but it was something that I really enjoyed,” Schmidt said. “If you don’t’ think it’s your type of thing, it’s still something you can have fun at.”