The Midwest Old Threshers Reunion was better than best

       The state fair is in the books and it’s time to pencil in high school football, volleyball, cross country, homecoming, craft shows, maybe a fishing trip and other fall events in the calendar.
           But before I do that, there was one last hurrah to wrap up the summer of 2024.
           Attending the Midwest Old Threshers Reunion (OTR) in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, Aug. 29 – Sept. 2.
        The Old Threshers Reunion is a favorite that Debbie and I and our family have been attending since 2007.
         I love the old steam engines and the nightly spark shows, the variety of tractors, horses, old-time farming demonstrations, small gas engines, antiques and music and entertainment. There’s the Log Village, electric trolly, steam trains, steam carousal, vendors, good food, camping and meeting new people, a favorite of mine.
       I first learned of the OTR while attending the University of Missouri-Columbia. I spent several years sweeping floors and cleaning toilets while earning my agricultural journalism degree.
          I was cleaning in Jesse Hall, the main administration building on the MU campus, when I found an OTR brochure on an employee’s desk. I found a copy machine and made a copy of the brochure and shared it with my folks back in Oklahoma.
           After moving to Iowa in December 1997, I first attended the OTR in 1999. At that time, my family on my mom’s side held a reunion on the even years in the Bootheel of Southeast Missouri that I attended on Labor Day weekend.
          I returned to the OTR a second time in 2001. In 2003, my dad and his friend, Roger, made the trek to Mount Pleasant from Tulsa, my hometown, and I met up with them and we stayed Saturday night at a motel in Keokuk. When the reunion is going on, it’s hard to find a place to stay.
          My dad ended up being featured on the annual OTR video that a local company produces each year. Debbie and I got my dad the video for Christmas that year and he was watching with Roger when he saw himself in the Log Village
          In 2008, Debbie and I released our second Iowa photo book, “Family Reunion – Midwest Old Threshers,” published that year.
         We worked with the now late Lennis Moore, CEO of the OTR at the time, and Terry McWilliams, then public relations of the OTR and now CEO, on the book project. The OTR still has a few books left at Vera’s in Museum A.
          And in April 2009, I participated in the OTR Steam School. I spent a weekend at the OTR learning all about steam engines and then on Sunday, the last day, had the opportunity with other steam school participants to fire up a steam engine and drive it on the grounds. It takes three to four people to drive one of the bemouth machine, most of which are more than 100-years-old. They are basically a boiler on steel wheels.
          That was quite an experience for a city boy driving a steam engine. I got the lug wheels stuck on the railroad track and had to get the owner to come get it unstuck. I’m glad the train wasn’t running that day.
        I also enjoy collecting OTR buttons. Every year since its founding in 1950, the OTR has produced a collector’s button. Some years there was a button and then a souvenir button.
            I have them all but 1950, 1951 and 1954, some of the rarest of buttons. They are also quite expensive, from $300 to more than $500 apiece for the old ones, unless someone is selling a collection for a song.
           I just purchased some older buttons from a seller in Grinnell, who used to live in Mount Pleasant. If you happen to have some antique OTR buttons stashed in the attic, let me know. I might be interested.
           Some of the best parts of attending the OTR, is meeting new people who come from all over the country to relive and take a journey into the past. And there are lots of young families spending a day or a few days at the reunion.
           And this year, most of my family members spent Thursday and Friday canvasing garage sales in the Mount Pleasant area and as far north as Crawfordsville. It was a lot of fun!
            I love garage selling and Debbie says it reminds her of her dad, Wayne, and all the sales he attended back in the day.
              It’s good to keep it in the family.
         I hope you enjoyed Labor Day. You might consider writing down a trip to Mount Pleasant and the Midwest OTR in 2025. It’s an experience you will never forget.
             Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day.