Every August St. Croix Valley Collector’s club have a two-day thrashing show with many events. This club is based out of River Falls/Roberts. On the first day, (Saturday) mainly is about getting everything setup and as evening comes, a big tractor ride and barn dance takes place. The second day, (Sunday) usually starts with thrashing for the first few hours, with a little kid pedal tractor pull. Then later having lunch, tractor basketball, tractor parade and more thrashing. 

This weekend has lots of meaning and tradition to my family and I. My grandpa started this club 51 years ago.  We always bring our thrashing machine, antique tractors and we essentially run the show with the help of other club members and donations of various places. Bernard’s in river falls always donates food and helps with any funds that are needed for the weekend.

For my grandpa and his dad, (my great grandpa) this how they farmed growing up and it’s how everyone else farmed. It wasn’t anything special it was just their job. It was super hard and everyone had to put in their part to make it possible. As more and more technology came out thrash machines stopped being used due to combines and other harvesters being invented and all the memories the older generations had, were being forgotten. So, my grandpa created this club so the memories could be brought back and passed down several generations. It shows truly, how hard farmers used to have to work just to feed their families and have roof above their head.

            This weekend brings the biggest smiles on everyone’s faces that come to the thrashing show and is one of the most fun weekends of the year for me. It’s not easy though, it takes a lot of preparation with needing everyone’s help. The actual thrashing its self is not easy work either, pitching 50-pound bundles of wheat or barley for about 4 hours but it’s something my family and I really enjoy doing. This weekend brings back old times with little cellphones and computers use and all the new technology, it’s a weekend of us all spending time together farming like how it was when my grandpa and dad grew up.

            My Mom and Grandma are not forgotten on this weekend either. None of this could be done without them. They always cook a free lunch for all the club members and to anyone who wants to come eat. They also help with various actives such as, the kids pedal tractor pull, tractor basketball, and the parade.

Overall this weekend is so much fun for my family, the club members and me. Its taught me many lessons in life like how sometimes you’ve just got to do things and learn to enjoy doing it. It’s also showed me a lot of history of farming and the mechanics of tractors. There was so much time spend on building the trash machines. There are over 20 separate belt systems and must be pulled by a tractor for everything to work properly. I’ve also learned on how to properly work on tractors and might have possibly found a career from this weekend. Over the last 13 thrashing shows I’ve had unforgettable memories with my friends and family and learned many life lessons.

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