53rd Pioneer Harvest Fiesta coming up

Bourbon County's agricultural heritage will be celebrated late next month during the 53rd Annual Pioneer Harvest Fiesta.

The event, the oldest steam and gas engine and tractor show in Kansas, is scheduled to take place Sept. 25-27 at the Bourbon County Fairgrounds. The three-day event features a wide collection of early 20th century tractors, gas and steam engines, and other agricultural equipment, as well as live demonstrations of antique farm equipment and other tools and implements from the early 1900s.

The festival also features a parade, a bean feed, food and live entertainment, a draft horse pulling contest, a variety of tractor pulling contests, a model train display, vendors, arts and crafts booths, a quilt show, and other events and exhibits. About 2,000 people attended last year's festival.

Each year, a different tractor and steam or gas engine is featured during the show. This year's featured gas tractor exhibit is a 1950 8N Ford tractor that was once used for mowing, raking hay, planting, feeding, harrowing and cultivating. At one time, the tractor had a loader that was used for silage and gravel loading. The tractor was purchased new by James Sharp, the father of Ron Sharp, a member of Pioneer Harvest Fiesta, Inc. Ron Sharp restored the tractor in 2004 and 2005, according to the event's Web site, www.pioneerharvestfiesta.org.

This year's featured gas engine exhibit is the 1907 International Harvester 8 horsepower engine and saw that was owned for about 44 years by George Jackson, the founder of the Pioneer Harvest Fiesta. The unit was bought by Leonard Lemmon, a member of Pioneer Harvest Fiesta, Inc., in 2004 and restored in 2007 and 2008, the Web site said.

All engines and tractors will be on display for attendees each day of the event.

The show will also include live demonstrations of corn husking and shelling, sorghum making, wheat threshing, blacksmithing, rock crushing, straw baling and a sawmill operation. A parade in downtown Fort Scott featuring gas and steam engines, classic cars and trucks, horses, floats, and other vintage farm equipment will kick off the event at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24.

A worship service is planned for 9 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 27.

Admission to all weekend events is $5 per person, a price that includes a collector button and admission to a bean feed scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 25. Children 12 years of age and younger will be admitted free of charge, but will not receive a collector button. Twenty-four local corporate sponsors have lent assistance and support to this year's event.

For more information, contact Pioneer Harvest Fiesta, Inc., President Allen Warren at (620) 224-7761, or visit www.pioneerharvestfiesta.org for a schedule of events and entry forms for vendors and exhibitors.