Rose City Threshing and Heritage Festival

Head to Central Minnesota to experience farming from a bygone era at the Rose City Threshing and Heritage Festival.

Although my Dad would take us to Threshing shows all over MN,  the Rose City Threshing Show and Heritage Festival was just a few short miles from where I grew up.

The noises of the engines, the smells of the food and all of the other sites and sounds make threshing shows a fun event for all ages. 

The realization of how much things have changed over the years, technology is now a huge part of farming.  Going to a threshing like this one is a chance to step back in a time, and also appreciate where our food comes from.

Rose City Threshing Show and Heritage Festival takes place the last full weekend of July.  This year it falls on July 24-25th.  Rose City is located in central MN, not far from Alexandria, Osakis and several other towns up that way.

Admission is $8 and 12 and under are free.  A full list of things to do and see makes the admission price well worth it!  Free primitive camping is available on the grounds.

During this annual celebration of farming from a bygone era, you can watch cutting grain, threshing, baling, cutting corn, silo filling, lumber sawing, blacksmith working, and  chainsaw carving.

There is a children’s barn, gas engine displays, music and plenty of home cooked food. Be sure to check out both of the original homes on the farm. First the log cabin and then the old two story farm home fully furnished with the appliances of the past.

Another building to check out is the barn. The names of all the cows are still listed, even though there are no longer any cows in there. The lower part of the barn is home to many different gas engines. The upper level no longer holds hay for the cows, but is home to a one-of-a-kind museum.

Rose City Threshing & Heritage Festival Activities:

• This year’s feature Feature will be Garden Tractors and Attachments
• Parade each day at 11am
• Children’s Barn
• Black Smith house will be forging projects
• Lumber sawing demonstration
• Music
• Saturday is Petal Pull Tractor Pull in the morning and the big boys Tractor Pull in the afternoon.
• Sunday is the ATV and Lawn Mower Pull.
• Breakfast served each day (hearty sausage links, pancakes, sweet rolls and beverage)
• Porkchop dinner
• Buildings to go through
• Chainsaw carver
• Plus a whole lot more!

What does “Threshing” mean: 

So what really is a “threshing show”? Back in the day, all farmers threshed their grain. Usually, neighbors got together, and helped each other with this chore. The grain had to be cut, shocked and stacked. After a week, the grain was loaded unto bundle rack and hauled up to where the threshing machine was set up. The grain bundle was toss unto the platform and the chains took the bundle into the machine. There the heads of the grain are beaten off from the straw. The grain goes into a box and the straw is blown out of the back of the machine unto the ground.