Fall Harvest Festival brings history to life
The Fall Harvest Festival was held Saturday at the American West Heritage Center.
The festival had hands-on participation for attendants in a historical learning environment to help people discover pioneer heritage.
Gun fight reenactments were held to show how gun fights took place in pioneer times.
A team of oxen was there, which people were able to pet. The owner of the oxen and three other oxen teams, Dixon Ford, said the festival brought forgotten skills into the open for people living in a modern world. Ford also said that to the pioneers, the world they lived in was in that time very modern.
“It’s a good eye-opener, as to what those people [the pioneers] had to put up with,” Ford said.
Oxen transported 80 percent of goods for the Mormon pioneers, and many women drove oxen teams, he said.
Farm and tractor equipment, as well as simple farming tools were also displayed. Wagon rides were offered along with rides in an old car, and on ponies.
Spinning wheels were set up to show how thread was made from different materials. Judy Gunn, a spinster, said some fairy tales and songs were actually based from the spinning wheel. She said they include Sleeping Beauty, Rumplestilskin and Pop Goes the Weasel.
Gunn said she enjoyed “opening doors to let people know a little about history that was so common place that no one ever remembered it.” She said she liked sharing history with people, just to let them have the opportunity to understand how the little things worked.
Some booths in the festival consisted of Native American jewelry and crafts made with pioneer skills. Dick and Lanora Grondel displayed artwork made from gourds.
The festival also had displays of pioneer-style dishes, toys, and some fashion examples. Those displays showed examples of simple pioneer product uses in their time period.
“My favorite thing is to meet all of the people that are from out of town, out of the area,” said Colette Memmott, the pioneer fashion shop worker. “They come in and we get to meet people from all over.”
JoAnn Powsen, executive assistant of the American West Heritage Center, said, “I think the fiddle contest is the most fun and different attraction. We’ve got lots of participants.”
She said the fiddle contest is a very fun activity and is kind of exclusive to the festival.
Ronda Thompsan, the executive director of the American West Heritage Center, said her favorite part of the festival is the fiddling contest.
“This is just a fun time of year to celebrate the harvest and the colors in the mountains,” Thompsan said. “It’s just a great time of year.”
-amysue@cc.usu.edu