Farmers plan Black Friday event: Watch corn pickers, shellers, equipment collectors demonstrate their skills
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| Using tractors, corn pickers, shellers and wagons, participants demonstrate how farmers processed their corn harvest 50 years ago. The Cornpicker Celebration will make a return appearance at the Bolz farm in Walnut from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 27. (Jim Dunn/ jdunn@svnmail.com) |
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WALNUT – For the gals, the day after Thanksgiving often turns into a frenzy of Christmas shopping.
But what about shopping-challenged guys? What are they to do on Black Friday?
For those with farming in their genes, a trip to Walnut may be in order.
Why?
The connoisseur of corn picking is at it again.
Kevin Larkey is organizing a second round of corn picking and shelling, just the way dad and grandpa used to do it.
Larkey and other classic farm machinery enthusiasts will have another Cornpicking Celebration from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 27 on the village’s northeast edge. They will be operating equipment from the 1940s through 1960s to demonstrate how corn was picked, shelled and stored back then.
The first celebration, held Oct. 31 and Nov. 1, was hounded by wet weather. Still, it was so well-received that Larkey is bringing it back.
“We’ve had a very good response,” he said. About 300 people attended the first weekend.
Plus, there’s still a sizable chunk of Larkey’s 38-inch-row corn left to harvest.
“We only picked about 20 acres or so” of 100 acres planted, he said.
The Walnut Rotary Club will be back to cook pork chops, brats, hamburgers and coffee.
Collectors from near and far told Larkey they will bring their equipment back for another go.
Two shuttles will take visitors from the shelling demonstration near the farm buildings out to the field to watch pickers chop down stalks, snap up ears of corn, and drop them into trailing wagons.
“We’ve worked out some more bugs. We’ll see how it goes,” Larkey said.
If you go
What: Post-Thanksgiving Cornpicker Celebration
When: Friday, Nov. 27 (and maybe Nov. 28)
Time: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Place: Bolz farm on northeast edge of Walnut
Directions: Once in Walnut, take state Route 92 to Rodney Avenue, go a block north, then turn right and follow gravel lane to farm.
Admission: Free, but donations are accepted.
Information: Kevin Larkey, 815-878-2524; Dave Kepner, 815-379-2264; Glen Huseman, 815-878-8351
