The Center for Heritage Renewal at NDSU has compiled a directory of old-time threshing shows throughout North Dakota, which can be accessed from the center’s website at heritagerenewal.org.
“The old-time threshing shows of the Northern Plains are among the finest examples of living history in all of North America – and you can take in these events across North Dakota from June to October,” explained center director Tom Isern, University Distinguished Professor of history.
“Living history” is described as the re-enactment or recreation of historic events and activities. The threshing show participants demonstrate knowledge about both the historical equipment and the past culture of the region.
“These threshing shows are real history in action,” said Isern, who is the author of “Bull Threshers and Bindlestiffs: Harvesting and Threshing on the North American Plains,” a history of old-time threshing on the Great Plains.
“In the days of steam, neighbors came together in threshing rings to bring in the bundles and pitch them into the separator. That’s just what they do today –gathering together as working neighbors, only now the job is to educate and entertain the rest of us,” Isern said.
According to Isern, the 2014 threshing show season begins with the Dale and Martha Hawk Museum Antique Farm Show, June 13-15, at the museum near Wolford, North Dakota.
NDSU is recognized as one of the nation's top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.