51st Pioneer Power Show to focus on family

The storied history of the Le Sueur County Pioneer Power Association took center stage at the show’s 50th anniversary last year, with merchandise, a documentary film and special events celebrating the hundreds of people who made one of the state’s largest exhibitions of agrarian life what it is today.

Now, as Pioneer Power prepares to celebrate their 51st show this weekend Aug. 23-25, Club President Bill Thelemann said their focus is keeping Midwestern pioneer traditions alive in the next generation.

Having farmed since his youth, Thelemann knows that one’s fascination with the combines that harvest a field, the engines that power tractors and the railways which drove the development of the Minnesota frontier starts from an early age, which is why this year’s Pioneer Power Show will feature an expanded array of children’s activities.

With events like the Kids Pedal Pull, train rides at the Railroad Depot, log-cutting demonstrations at the 1898 Saw Mill and activities like corn shelling and woodworking, the Pioneer Power’s 130-acre showgrounds has never been lacking in events for the whole family to enjoy.

But this year, Thelemann said the showgrounds would be adding a new children’s tent near the windmill behind the feature tent, where families can come and enjoy a collection of family activities including a scavenger hunt and the return of the kid’s toolbox project from last year’s show, where children could assemble their own Pioneer Power-branded wooden toolboxes.

“We know that our future is in the young people and that’s why we’re putting a lot of emphasis on that,” said Thelemann. “It’s actually the 50th anniversary where this idea kind of sprung up, so we’re real excited about that. What we really want to emphasize from now on is to make it a family event.“

The children’s tent isn’t all that’s new to Pioneer Power this year. For their feature exhibition, the association is hosting the International Harvester Collectors Club’s collection of Farmall tractors, spanning from machinery built in the 1920s to the present day. Bill Radil, a Pioneer Power committee member and President of Minnesota Chapter 15 of the IHC Club, said that the feature comes at an important time for the organization. This year marks both the 30th anniversary of the club and the 100th anniversary of the IH Farmall Regular tractor.

“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Radil said of the chance to share the history of the Farmall’s signature red tractor build. It’s a brand with a lot of history in Le Sueur County farms, including Radil’s own. He caught the bug for collecting IH tractors from an early age, when he learned to drive a tractor on his family’s 1936 Farmall F230 at five-years-old. His childhood obsession with the brand never dissipated and today he owns 14 Farmall vehicles.

“The farmall tractor was the first successful, tricycle-type row crop tractor made and everybody played off of international’s lead back in 1924,” Radil noted. “My family has been international since 1936, so red runs a long way in my family.”

Of course, the Pioneer Power Show will also feature the yearly exhibitions and activities showcasing the rural life of yesteryear. Large collections of steam engines and farming equipment, corn shelling and wheat threshing, blacksmithing, log-cutting, weaving and broom-making, miniatures, newspaper printing machinery and more can be found at the showgrounds between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. each day.

Visitors should be sure to stick around at 5:30 p.m. Friday for the annual tractor ride and 2:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday for the Pioneer Power Tractor Pull. The pull is divided into four categories: Antique Factory Stock 1959 and older, Hobby Stock 1959 and older, Antique Open 1969 and older and 9500 Improved Stock Diesel Class Turbocharged.