The Manitoba Threshermen’s Reunion & Stampede is ready to kick off once again with its 2023 edition -- the 67th. It's Canada's largest farm heritage festival and begins this Thursday, July 27th, at the Manitoba Agricultural Museum near Austin.
Museum Board Secretary Gordon Goldsborough explains the event's biggest highlight is the International Cockshutt Club's Exposition.
"They're bringing Cockshutt equipment from all over North America. And I think it will be the definitive Cockshutt event of, certainly, the year, if not the decade," says Goldsborough. "They're a make of farm equipment called Cockshutt that was built here in Canada from the 1870s to the 1960s. It's the definitive Canadian farm equipment manufacturer. There's a wide collection of these pieces of equipment that are still out in people's hands that have been maintained meticulously in fine running order, and they will be on display."
More importantly, Goldsborough notes, these machines will be working during the Threshermen's Reunion.
He says the Museum also hosts the province's best semi-pro rodeo every year.
"This year, it runs every evening from 7:30 on, and there's going to be a musical entertainment before each day's rodeo. And this year, we're featuring a number of bands. On Thursday is the Sean Taylor band, Friday is Kendra Kay, and on Saturday is the band Hicktown."
Goldsborough says another highlight is the Homesteaders Village where a number of historic buildings are onsite.
"Particularly significant, I think, is the fact that we have the Tree Planting car finally. We have been working hard to move the tree-planting car to the museum. It's now there and we are, in fact, raising funds to put a roof over it so people can have at least a look from the outside. We aren't going to be opening the tree-planting car just yet, but certainly, they can see what it looks like."
He adds the other big highlight is the flat grain warehouse. It's new to the Museum.
"As far as we know, it's the last flat warehouse on the prairies," continues Goldsborough. "It was the technology that preceded grain elevators. This one in particular is from 1902. It was standing at Brookdale and we had it moved to the grounds of the Museum two falls ago. As recently as last week, it's finally been clad in new metal panels. Its old metal covering was deteriorating. We put a new covering on it and it looks amazing. And the people that did the installation work did a wonderful job. We duplicated exactly the tiles that it used to have, and they're a nice sort of brick-red colour. People should come and have a look at what we used to store grain before there were grain elevators."
Goldsborough explains so much is there, including a military display and the power parade featured every day in the afternoon.
Hundreds of horse-drawn wagons, vintage vehicles, steam engines, tractors, and miscellaneous machinery always take part.
"It's just a bewildering collection of stuff that it's all working," says Goldsborough. "That's the important part. The museum has Canada's largest collection of vintage farm equipment and the vast majority of it still works. And that's the impressive part for me."