Happy campers pack Old Threshers grounds

BY KARYN SPORY

Mt. Pleasant News

Nolan Burton and Debbie Huddleston are deep in concentration, scouring the pieces of the puzzle that lay scattered across the folding card table in front of them, hunting for the next piece.

?We come here just to do a puzzle together,? Burton says with a laugh.

Huddleston smiles and shakes her head as their friend Mark Vanvusen slaps the arm of his lawn chair and lets out a robust laugh. Their conversations seem to continue in this pattern.

The three friends didn?t travel from Chillicothe, Mo., simply to put a puzzle together, they came for the steam engines and tractors.

Vanvusen has been coming to Old Threshers since he was eight or nine, Burton since 1964 and Huddleston, who is considered the newbie, has spent her Labor Day weekend in Mt. Pleasant for the past four years.

They each may have come their first year because of the tractors, steam engines or entertainment, but ask any one of them and they?ll say it?s the people and camaraderie that keeps them coming back year after year.

?Old Threshers really is a reunion,? commented Burton.

Huddleston agreed saying the event wasn?t just a time to visit the exhibits, but to visit with friends made throughout the years.

Vanvusen and Burton both attested the reunion made for some great memories.

?I?ve been coming out here since I was a kid. My dad came up and had his engines (on display),? said Vanvusen. ?I was probably eight or 10 years old and just really enjoyed the atmosphere.?

?We even enjoyed it when it rained,? said Burton.

?The memories of walking barefoot in the mud and puddles,? responded Vanvusen.

This time it was Burton?s turn to slap the arm of his chair and laugh. ?You never know, we may get to do it again if it ends up raining tomorrow.?

This was Sheila Hauk?s first time camping at Old Threshers. Hauk said she?d been to the reunion before, as it?s not a terrible drive from her hometown of Warsaw, Ill., but she decided to make an event out of it and camp with her sister and brother-in-law.

?It?s very full, lots of people,? she said surveying the campgrounds. ?Everyone has been so nice so far.?

Hauk said she was most excited for the musical entertainment, especially Eric Paslay, who performs Friday night.

Bobbie Hammer, of Newton, and her husband have been camping out at Old Threshers for over 35 years. She and her granddaughter, Carrie Joe Hammer, looked on as the men worked to level the camper. ?We?re having some trouble,? said Bobbie. ?We were trying to get it level when the board came up and banged up the back of the camper.?

When asked if she thought that might dampen the weekend she shrugged it off. ?We?ll get it fixed. It?s the small stuff,? she said.

Besides the wet ground, Bobbie said it looked like the weather for the reunion was going to be beautiful. ?Besides, I?d rather have a little rain than it be hotter than Hades,? she said.

On the other side of the campgrounds, James Heims, of Anamosa, was receiving plenty of help as he set up the camper. His daughters, Katelyn, 10; Paige, 7; Morgan, 5; and Lauren, 3, were eager to help Daddy.

?Mommy has a booth so I?m helping Dad,? said Paige. She was helping him straighten out the rug outside of the camper. Katelyn said she was helping her dad watch her sisters and Lauren insisted she helped clean the camper.

James and the girls said they enjoyed the tractors and steam engines, but really, the reunion is about family.

?I?ve been coming out since I was 10,? said James. ?My grandma and grandpa were the ones that started coming out. It?s really a family event for us.?

James said it wasn?t only his side of the family that came out, but also relatives from his wife?s side of the family.

?I just really like camping with my sisters,? added Katelyn.

The reunion continues through Monday.