Haxtun's 88th Corn Festival - Part Two
There is life after the Corn Festival Parade.
The Haxtun Volunteer Fire Department has rides for the kids.
There are tons of street games. This is the penny scramble - I assume they are looking for pennies in the pet bedding (itchy!).
There are street games for older kids and adults, too. I'm very sorry I didn't get a picture of them because they are quite funny. The egg toss is easily my favorite. You have to have a partner and everyone makes two lines with partners facing. Then, you guessed it, you toss the egg back and forth. After each toss the lines move farther apart. The guys are always the best to watch because a few pairs always end up a block apart and they're throwing it like a football. It's amazing an egg can take so much. Anyhow, I plan to participate in this game some day. So far I've lacked a willing partner . . . but that's what kids are for, right?
Another game that I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of was the Pedal Tractor Pull. They have little tractors with pedals, like a bike. Kids get on these tractors and try to pull a little load behind the tractor as far as they can. The thing is, as they move forward the load gets heavier. It's pretty fun to watch those little kids strain - it makes me sweat from my seat in the bleachers!
Here's the High School Ag teacher, Jeff, announcing the start of the Future Farmers of America (FFA) Auction. This is their one fundraiser each year. They auction off each club member to do 8 hours of labor for the winning bidder.
There were great booths all around the festival, too. Here's the Henry Hayes Honey booth. It's a family run business. Bob Henry actually passed away recently, but I believe his granddaughter in the picture has taken over. They have hives around this area that they care for and harvest from - can you imagine that job? They are now expanding their line to include some beauty products made from honey and beeswax. I bought some honey chapstick - wonderful!
This is the Dry Creek Alpaca booth. To the left of the picture they were selling sweaters, scarves, gloves, etc, all made with alpaca fiber.
The Grebble truck. Sigh. This truck is famous at the fairs around here. I had never heard of it before I came to CO, but they are wonderful, puffy little donut-like things. After you've had one you'll drool at the mere mention of grebbles for years to come. I actually managed to avoid eating any on this occasion because Roy and I are trying to eat healthier. I deeply regret this fact because two days later he ate donuts. I missed possibly my only chance to eat grebbles until next summer because of OUR diet and then he ate donuts! ARGH!
Down the street a little ways at the community center was the quilt show.
Quilts of all shape, style, size, and color were on display.
Here are a few of the ladies of the High Plains Heritage Quilters. They made that quilt hanging behind them and they're selling raffle tickets for it. They do this every year.
They also had a display showing the blocks they would be using for the next year's quilt that they would be making.
This year they were especially industrious and also made the Haxtun Centennial Quilt. Absolutely amazing work.
That's the end of my pictures and I'm sure it hasn't escaped your notice that I missed getting pictures of a lot of events. The truth is that I had to sneak away to a meeting in the afternoon, so I missed all the afternoon events! I really wished I hadn't had to do that, but the upside is that I don't think any of us could stand many more pictures of corn fest! This also leaves me lots of things to cover for next year's festival. I hope you'll all be able to make it!
The Haxtun Volunteer Fire Department has rides for the kids.
There are tons of street games. This is the penny scramble - I assume they are looking for pennies in the pet bedding (itchy!).
There are street games for older kids and adults, too. I'm very sorry I didn't get a picture of them because they are quite funny. The egg toss is easily my favorite. You have to have a partner and everyone makes two lines with partners facing. Then, you guessed it, you toss the egg back and forth. After each toss the lines move farther apart. The guys are always the best to watch because a few pairs always end up a block apart and they're throwing it like a football. It's amazing an egg can take so much. Anyhow, I plan to participate in this game some day. So far I've lacked a willing partner . . . but that's what kids are for, right?
Another game that I'm sorry I didn't get a picture of was the Pedal Tractor Pull. They have little tractors with pedals, like a bike. Kids get on these tractors and try to pull a little load behind the tractor as far as they can. The thing is, as they move forward the load gets heavier. It's pretty fun to watch those little kids strain - it makes me sweat from my seat in the bleachers!
Here's the High School Ag teacher, Jeff, announcing the start of the Future Farmers of America (FFA) Auction. This is their one fundraiser each year. They auction off each club member to do 8 hours of labor for the winning bidder.
There were great booths all around the festival, too. Here's the Henry Hayes Honey booth. It's a family run business. Bob Henry actually passed away recently, but I believe his granddaughter in the picture has taken over. They have hives around this area that they care for and harvest from - can you imagine that job? They are now expanding their line to include some beauty products made from honey and beeswax. I bought some honey chapstick - wonderful!
This is the Dry Creek Alpaca booth. To the left of the picture they were selling sweaters, scarves, gloves, etc, all made with alpaca fiber.
The Grebble truck. Sigh. This truck is famous at the fairs around here. I had never heard of it before I came to CO, but they are wonderful, puffy little donut-like things. After you've had one you'll drool at the mere mention of grebbles for years to come. I actually managed to avoid eating any on this occasion because Roy and I are trying to eat healthier. I deeply regret this fact because two days later he ate donuts. I missed possibly my only chance to eat grebbles until next summer because of OUR diet and then he ate donuts! ARGH!
Down the street a little ways at the community center was the quilt show.
Quilts of all shape, style, size, and color were on display.
Here are a few of the ladies of the High Plains Heritage Quilters. They made that quilt hanging behind them and they're selling raffle tickets for it. They do this every year.
They also had a display showing the blocks they would be using for the next year's quilt that they would be making.
This year they were especially industrious and also made the Haxtun Centennial Quilt. Absolutely amazing work.
That's the end of my pictures and I'm sure it hasn't escaped your notice that I missed getting pictures of a lot of events. The truth is that I had to sneak away to a meeting in the afternoon, so I missed all the afternoon events! I really wished I hadn't had to do that, but the upside is that I don't think any of us could stand many more pictures of corn fest! This also leaves me lots of things to cover for next year's festival. I hope you'll all be able to make it!
Posted by Susan at September 30, 2009 
Categories: Local Activities, Rural Living
Tags: carnival rides grebble tractor pull alpacas future farmers of america centennial fire department raffle egg toss beeswax penny scramble haxtun honey henry hayes Dry Creek alpacas quilt show auction
Categories: Local Activities, Rural Living
Tags: carnival rides grebble tractor pull alpacas future farmers of america centennial fire department raffle egg toss beeswax penny scramble haxtun honey henry hayes Dry Creek alpacas quilt show auction
Hey Susan, I just found your blog on Facebook. This is such a great Corn Festival wrap up! I grew up in Haxtun (that's my Mom and niece at the Henry Hayes Honey table.) but live in Santa Monica now. I had to bring my husband to a Corn Festival about 8 years ago, just to show him how rural folks have fun. Thanks for the blog, it puts me in a Haxtun state of mind
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