Volunteers prepare for upcoming Threshermen's festival at WDM

Yorkton, Sask. -

Volunteers in Yorkton are working hard in preparation for the 66th annual Threshermen’s Show & Seniors Festival.

In partnership with the Western Development Museum (WDM) in Yorkton, the August long-weekend event showcases demonstrations and displays of threshing, blacksmithing, chainsaw demos, and other old farming practices.

“We’re a group of people who are interested in reliving the past and working with the equipment the Threshermen’s Club and WDM has to offer,” explained Harvey Drotar, the president of the club.

“We run and maintain the equipment. There’s a clay oven there, we have people working on it to have fresh bread for the show.”

The event takes families back to a world of old farming practices, while also entertaining kids with various activities.

“It’s our chance to show off our equipment and how it works once a year,” Drotar expressed.

“We’ll have steam tractors, we’ll have horse drawn equipment, and we’ll be working our oats field in the back. We’ll be cutting it and plowing it with horse and steam, and with gas powered tractors.”

“On the two-day, event we’ll have stooking competitions for people of all ages, tractor competitions, and games.”

Through a special exhibit on site, the festival will also be celebrating the WDM’s 75th anniversary, along with the national 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF).

“Most people think of the (RCAF) as military and war, but that isn't the case,” said Elaine Lahosky, chair of the special exhibit. “It was in its time, but we still need air and aviation and things that happen in the air, whether it be for protection or fire services, all of those things, not just travel."

The event draws in roughly 1,500 people each year. Carla Madsen, manager of the WDM in Yorkton, said the group tries to incorporate something new every year.

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"This is a really important event for our community. It helped showcase some of our past generations and the effort that it took to become what we are here in the agricultural area today,” Madsen expressed.

“It's a great way to showcase our volunteers and they just love contributing to the museum and the wider community itself. This year we're very happy to add to our children’s rides. Last year was the first time they had the mini airplanes, this year we'll be having a mini train so we're really excited about that."

Madsen added that there are around 75 volunteers who help with the festival.

“Preparing for the show takes place as soon as the last one is done. We work on it throughout the year, the organizing of things between the Yorkton Threshermen’s Club, the Yorkton Classic Auto Club, and the WDM, we really get at it in the beginning of the calendar year,” she said.

For the Aug. 3-4 event, Madsen said admission for the festival will also grant people access to the inside of the WDM.

“We welcome people from all over the place. It's really nice to see our local support that we get here, whether it's people attending or our sponsors and donors, but it's great,” she expressed.

“We have visitors coming from all across Saskatchewan, we even get some people from down south and eastern provinces. We really welcome everyone.”