Pioneer Park field day will honor volunteer

Neil Seiffert would have enjoyed the old-fashioned field planting at Minnesota Pioneer Park the afternoon of Saturday, May 9, his son Aaron says.

He and his pair of Belgians, who gave rides at the park for many years, would have fit right in with the teams of draft horses that will plant the park's four-acre field that day using old-time equipment and horse power.

Instead, Seiffert, who died unexpectedly last October, will be there in spirit. Organizers have decided to name the occasion in honor of the faithful volunteer.

From 10 a.m. until the field is planted, everyone is invited to enjoy the first annual Neil Seiffert Field Day Event.

"We wanted to recognize him for all those years that he selflessly came out and gave rides at the park, said organizer Chanda Knoof. "He never asked for anything; he was just happy to progress the park."

"If he were still alive, he and his horses would probably be out there in that field too."

Knoof expects four to six teams and their volunteer drivers to show up that day to plant the entire field with corn seed donated from Centra Sota Co-op in Buffalo. At the end of the season, the field will be made into a maze and opened to the public, she said.

The land, which the park has owned for many years, used to be rented out to a farmer, but recently board members starting thinking about ways they could use it to further promote and teach its visitors about pioneer history.

"We really wanted to put a new twist and a new energy into the park with this event," Knoof said. "This says what the park represents."

People who stop by May 9 will see how farming has progressed from hand work to horses and then to tractors.

After watching the volunteers pick rocks, drag the field and then plant it, all by hand and horse power, they can check out the park's display of old tractors to really see how farming has changed.

According to Knoof, planting a field in the pioneer days was a big job that required friends and neighbors to help each other out. After the planting was done they usually celebrated with a big meal.

At Pioneer Park, visitors won't have to wait until the planting is finished to eat. Volunteers will be selling sloppy joes and the park's foot-long hotdogs throughout the day.

There will also be vegetables for sale, most of them heirloom, which were started earlier this season in the greenhouses of Webers Folly in Annandale and Fairhaven Farm.

Kim Mooney, who goes by the name of "The Plant Lady's Daughter," will also be there selling plants.

Meanwhile, Knoof and others will be putting in the vegetable garden that has become a common sight alongside the Sorenson Cabin where she spends many of her days in the summer re-enacting history.

The park received more than 500 packs of free heirloom vegetable seeds from an Iowa company called Seed Savers Exchange to get the garden going.

A special section of the garden this year will be dedicated to students at Bendix Elementary School, Knoof said. Earlier this spring, Kristi Anderson's third-grade class started vegetable seeds in their classroom.

On May 9, they will have the chance to plant them in a special plot of land set aside just for them.

Throughout the summer they will be invited to come and tend to them as they grow.

Knoof uses the vegetables from the garden in her demonstrations throughout the summer. Last year she made salsa, homemade tomato soup and canned tomatoes among other things.

Park representatives will also be selling vegetables at the Farmer's Market in Annandale. Any vegetables that remain at the end of the season will be donated to the food shelf, Knoof said.

For the kids, there will be horse-drawn wagon rides courtesy of Lois Handle of Whips and Wheels, and baby animals to coo over and pet.

When the day is done, visitors can look forward to returning in September for the park's first annual Harvest Festival to see how the crop turned out and stroll through the corn maze.

"We think this is going to be an exciting year," Knoof said, "and we hope the town will come out and support us."

Between now and Saturday, Sept. 26, the day of the Harvest Festival, history lovers will still be able to enjoy the park's regular events including the annual Old Fashioned Fourth of July and Fiddlers Festival. The park is also open most days for visitors to tour the buildings.

For more information on the field day and other events, visit www.pioneerpark.org.

If the weather is bad May 9, a rain day will be announced.