Volunteers keep Midwest Old Threshers Reunion running

MT. PLEASANT - Marlene Wright and Marilyn Williams were having a grand ole time volunteering at the Midwest Old Threshers information booth Saturday afternoon.

It was the first year either of them had volunteered at the event, although both have visited before.

'I've been here the last 20 years,” said Williams. 'My family camps out for two weeks. This year, I thought since I'm here the whole time, I might as well do something.” Williams hails from Baxter.

Wright, a resident of the Mt. Pleasant area, said she learned about the Old Threshers volunteering opportunity at her other volunteer job at the Henry County Health Center. After the health center's volunteer coordinator, who just happens to be the Old Threshers volunteer coordinator also, announced volunteers were still needed for Old Threshers, Wright went home and thought about the opportunity.

'I used to come to Old Threshers,” she said. 'And my daughter said she thought I would really enjoy being here again, so I called and volunteered.”

'Everybody here is a volunteer,” said Williams. 'Volunteers are needed to keep this going.”

'It will be sad if it's gone someday,” added Wright.

It's not just locals that come to Old Threshers specifically to volunteer. During the volunteer orientation meeting, Wright said she was surprised to see just how far away people come to help out.

'There was a couple from Dubuque, and another from Indiana,” she said. 'People come from all over to help out.”

Williams' nephew also decided to volunteer this year, and drove a tractor to pull a grounds shuttle transporting visitors from place to place.

Williams and Wright said they loved working in the information booth right next to the shuttle bus gate location where people were just entering the grounds.

The most asked question they received was, 'where is the closest restroom?” Which was an easy answer as it was just next door.

Other questions had ranged from how to get to the Log Village area of the Old Threshers grounds, if there were any ATMs and where to find an air pump to fill up a deflating tire on a motorized scooter.

The most interesting question had to be about a cow chip-throwing contest.

'I told him that was at the Iowa State Fair a few weeks ago,” said Wright.

Both Wright and Williams plan to volunteer again at the 2020 Midwest Old Threshers Reunion.

In the Steam Powerhouse, Ray Mottet, of Fairfield, was volunteering in the machine shop. Monte was demonstrating a treadle lath. As he peddled - backward in comparison to a bicycle - the machine turned the cylindrical object he was creating.

'I was daydreaming about what I could do different this year, and this came to mind Wednesday,” said Mottet, pointing to the little silver object. 'I'm not sure what it is, but it's better than what I made last year.”

Mottet has volunteered to operate the treadle lath during Old Threshers Reunions for six years. He explained that the Steam Powerhouse machine shop is similar to work he did throughout his career.

'I retired as supervisor for a tool room, basically an area just like this at The Dexter Company, where we did repair work on tooling used to make washers and dryers,” he said.

Mottet has always been interested in industrial arts beginning with a three-hour class he took every morning during his senior year at Fairfield High School that taught tooling.

'It was better than farming,” he said. 'That is just too much of a gamble.”

Three days after Mottet graduated from FHS, he was working at Iowa Malleable, where he stayed for 13 years before moving on to Dexter, where he stayed for 23 years.

Visitors to the Midwest Old Threshers Reunion can learn about more than just steam-powered machines and old gas engines. Inside the Richard E. Oetken Heritage Museum, The Printers' Hall exhibit follows a timeline of printing from the first time settlers crossed the Mississippi River. It includes an 1870 hand press, various kinds of platen presses, cylinder presses and handset type.

Saturday afternoon, volunteer Rick Van Holdt was demonstrating the Wesel Printing Press. He explained he had to re-ink the type each time before setting a piece of paper on it and pulling the large handle to bring down more than 3,000 pounds of pressure causing the ink to transfer to the paper.

'It keeps me in shape,” Van Holdt laughed.

The 73-year-old from Perry has an interest in printing because he had worked at Better Homes & Gardens, and he enjoys sharing his knowledge with visitors at Old Threshers.

The volunteers each said they enjoy working at Old Threshers and recommend other get involved, too. For information about Midwest Old Threshers, call 319-385-8937 or visit the website www.oldthreshers.com.