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Thumb Octagon Barn at Gagetown ready for big doings next week.

SEE JOHNNY APPLESEED:
Chat at Thumb Octagon Barn Family Days Sept. 6-7

August 27, 2014       Leave a Comment
By: Dave Rogers

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Have you ever talked with Johnny Appleseed in person?

Here's your chance!

Come to Thumb Octagon Barn Fall Family Days 2014, in Gagetown, talk with Johnny Appleseed and learn about Michigan Apples from the bees pollinating the blossoms to apple products.

Martin Kubacki, Ubly, chairperson of the 19th annual Fall Family Days is expecting over 15,000 people to attend Saturday, September 6th and Sunday, September 7th from 8:00 AM - 5:00.

Admission is $5 for people 6 years of age and older for all the events, demonstrations, and displays of Fall Family Days 2014.

Fall Family Days begins at 4 PM on Friday, September 5th with a Fish Fry served until 7 PM; cost is $10 for adults, kids six to twelve $5, children under 5 FREE.

Greg Talaski, Kinde, will prepare the delicious fish. Other menu items include baked beans, scalloped potatoes, vegetable, coleslaw, roll, plus dessert! Baked fish will also be available.

George and Lavonne Pettinger, Snover, are coordinating all arrangements for this event which is held in the Munro Building.

Following the Fish Fry, folks are invited to a Music Jam in the Barn. The Eastern Michigan Music Makers, organized by Arlen Bannick, Bad Axe, will be sharing some good old-time music. Bring your musical instruments and singing voices to join in the fun - even kick up your heels!

The theme for 2014 is Michigan Apples. In the theme tent next to the Purdy home, members of the Michigan Apples Association and Michigan Bee Keepers will be on hand to share the story of apples from the blossoms to all the products made from apples.

Greg Alexander, Carsonville, will be giving a presentation 'Michigan Apples - Pollination to Processing,' fifteen minutes after every each hour. There will be a display - and for demonstration - old apple utensils and equipment, plus there will be Honey Separation presentations at 10:15 AM and 2:15 PM each day by Dean Hutchinson, Cass City.

Honey, apple chips, and apples will be available for sale. Plus Johnny Appleseed will be in the tent so get ready to chat about apples.

Hungry - Who isn't at least several times during the day? The Farmer's Breakfast will be prepared by the Knights of Columbus #3224, Caro, serving on Saturday from 8 to 10 AM and from 8 to 11 AM on Sunday. Cost of the breakfast is $7, ages five years to twelve $5, and children under five free.

Take a few minutes to sit, relax, and listen/sing a long with the Eastern Michigan Music Makers, under the direction of Arlen Bannick, Bad Axe. They will be providing old fashion music under the trees near the house throughout the two day event just as they have from the very first Fall Family Days in 1995.

On Saturday and Sunday the musicians will play old time music from 11 AM to 5 PM using a variety of musical instruments. Sunday morning at 10 AM, they will hold an Old Gospel Hymns sing-a-long.

Open for walk through tours will be the wonderful 7 bedroom house, home of James and Cora Purdy and their two daughters. It is a gorgeous house, built in 1922, that has been restored to its wonderful grandeur. It is furnished with furniture, items, and clothing of the time - some of which belonged to the Purdys.

Music will fill the Purdy Home with dulcimer players and Alex Paladi, Deford, will be playing the Purdy Family Melodeon. Interpretive guides will be available to answer questions, plus give historical information concerning the house.

In the garage both days, hands on activity/craft classes have been scheduled by Linda Bailey, Cass City. A variety of classes will be held both days for adults who are interested in learning some old/new crafts. At 10 AM presented will be Corn Husk Dolls, 11 AM Apple Prints, 1 PM Dried Apple Ornaments, and 2 PM Carved Apple Heads.

The One Room Country School will have scheduled 'Patriotic Presentations' by students/teachers - dressed in attire representing the 1920s and 30s - in the old Mast School. On Saturday at 10:30 AM and 12:30 PM Cass City students will perform and a Home School group will perform at 11:30 AM and 1:30 PM. On Sunday a group of Caro youngsters will present at 12:00 and 2:00 PM. There will also be lots time to tour the One Room Country School. The old, original Mast School was moved to the site from the Sebewaing area several years ago.

The new County School Museum building will be open for the first time this year; on display will be materials, photos and maps from years gone by from the county schools from the Thumb area. Guides will be available to answer questions, accept 'old school donations,' plus you can listen to the stories of your education in years gone by.

Some of the additional features and on-going demonstrations that will be part of Fall Family Days 2014 are Thumb Octagon Barn history talk in the arena of the Barn with Margaret Sergeant, Gagetown, Barn/Agricultural History Museum areas throughout the Barn, plus up on the north & south lofts.

The new Cider Mill building is open behind the creek, plus the Blacksmith Shop, Sugar Shack making sorghum syrup, and the Grain Elevator will be running. The Powerhouse will be open with interpretive guides explaining how it powered the farm using a steam engine, plus the 32 Volt Delco system.

The fellas at the sawmill will be cutting huge logs into boards that will be used in the future on the site, the veneer mill will be running, and there is a wonderful sawmill museum displaying wood tools plus featuring lumberyards throughout the Thumb.

On both days once in the morning and afternoon, Bob Hirn, Cass City, will be doing an interactive lumber industry presentation in the sawmill. Theresa Schumitsch, Millington, will be milking goats and making butter. Working will be 'hit and miss' gas engines, shingle mill and forge, stationery hay press, steam engines, wagon wheel rug weaving, and broom making.

There will be a grand display of old tractors display plus Bay City shovels. Thumb Two Cylinder Club will have an extensive display of John Deere toys in the Barn. There is no charge for exhibitors. Free horse drawn wagon rides will be available east of the creek!. There will also be ongoing field harvesting and threshing demonstrations, including harvesting of potatoes where for $2 you can pick your own put into a bag.

Out by the creek is a huge Children's Activity tent surrounded by a white picket fence. Kids get to choose to washing clothes on the scrub board, hang them on a clothes lines, use bean sorters, milk the wooden milking goat, pretend to be cowboys as they ride saddles to ride on straw bales, play checkers and other old fashioned games, walk on the wooden stilts, pump water, plus a young teenage volunteer, Kylie, from Ubly, will be reading several times each day the story, 'Squeaky The Mouse - at the Thumb Octagon Barn'. Included also in the same area are the children's Barrel Train rides. Children need to be accompanied by an adult; all activities are free.

At 2:30 PM in front of the Barn both days, there will be a Fashion Show, titled 'Aprons At Work' organized and narrated by Tori Pine, Cass City. Folks will model period aprons, including an apron owned by Cora Purdy that she wore while working in the Purdy Home kitchen at the Thumb Octagon Barn! Following at 3 PM both days will be the parade of antique tractors and equipment with a narrated story of each.

Louie and Linda Wehrman, Reese, vendor co-chairpersons, have rented out all 225 spaces! This means a wide range vendors displaying arts, crafts, and flea market items will be for available for purchase in a variety of price ranges. There is something for everyone's enjoyment! This year an ATM is available on site.

Free shuttles are provided to transport people to and from the parking areas to the site; handicapped shuttles are also available. PLEASE NOTE NO PETS allowed at Fall Family Days due Health Department regulations and liability.

Contact(s) for further information:

Rose Putnam, Caro, President of Friends of Thumb Octagon Barn; 989-894-9883 (work), 989-550-0693 (cell); brputt@hotmail.com. Thumb Octagon Barn 989-665-0081 www.thumboctagonbarn.org.



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Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
(Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)

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