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Home My WebLink AboutHuron Pioneer Thresher and Hobby Association Thresher Reunion, 1987-09-09, Page 8PAGE A-8. THE CITIZEN. WEDNESDAY. SEPTEMBER 9. 1987. I Lots to see in Blyth While there is plenty of things to see at the Thresher Reunion, Blyth presents many other attractions to visitors to enjoy while they' re here. As well as fine food, clothing and hardware stores. Blyth has in recent years developed many unique shops. First and best known of these of course are the two wool and leather factory outlets: Bainton Limited in down town Blyth and The Old Mill, one mile south of Blyth on the hill. At this time of the year as the weather cools, these two stores become Threshing was socializing Continued from page 7 was often a leisurely activity especially if there were older hands present who knew it was better to pace themselves for a whole day’s work instead of rushing across the field, seeing who could finish a row first, as was often the case with teenagers. Today, I suppose, we’d be so addicted to prepackaged enter tainment that we’d all be wearing Walkmans while we stooked but then the entertainment was talk. Talk about the old days, talk about what this or that farmer was doing what to improve his yields, talk about girls (for the young ones) and for everybody, more time than probably should be, talk about gossip. It was like that when it came time to bring the sheaves in for threshing. Aside from the steady purr of the tractor, there was little noise involved so conversations could still be carried on. There was a subtle ineraction between the generations as well. The fathers and grandfathers would shake their he and s as they watched the young bucks competing to see who could pitch the heaviest loads up onto the wagon. For the young men, lifting an entire stook or five or six sheaves on the end of a pitchfork to the top of a high load was an envied show of growing strength. To the elders, it was a sign of young foolishness and they’d warn the day was going to be a long one. The contrast between the mo dern rural life and the life of that attractions in themselves for thou sands of shoppers who travel from all over southern Ontairo and Michigan for wool and leather fashions. Main street has seen a blossom ing in recent years of attractive shops offering everything from antiques, to crafts to homebaking toplantsandframedartworkto wicker furniture. Perhaps Blyth’s most famous attraction, the Blyth Festival, is winding down itsUthseasonas theThresher Reunion approaches. There will be performances of time seems to begin directly with the decline of things like the threshing gangs, wood bees, silo filling and other activities that brought people in rural communi ties. With the coming of more and more one-man operated farm machine, it was no longer neces sary for farmers to get together to accomplish their work. Today each farmer works away in his own little world. Opportunitiesfop neigh bours to get together are fewer an£ fewer and often events must be purposely planned in order to bring a neighbourhood together. Ironically, in view of the fact we can now instantly get telephone calls from the other side of the world or watch live television from space ships, farm families have never been so isolated from their neighbours since the early pioneer days. The sadness of this becomes most evident when a farmer gets in economic trouble as many have in recent years and carries the whole burden himself because neigh bours aren’t close enough to be confidants anymore. Just as tragic is the fact that if one farmer does something des perate, his neighbours are often the most surpised because they didn’t even know he was in trouble. It’s unlikely farmers will ever go back to threshing gangs or any of the other ways of farming that brought neighbours together. If not, however, they must find other ways of bringing neighbours to gether, of knowing that each is there for the other if needed. “Another Season’s Promise” at Blyth Memorial Hall Friday night, Saturday afternoon and Saturday evening before the Festival’s season ends. The critically-ac claimed play, about the four generations of one Huron county family as they struggle with the harsh farm economy of the 1980's, will go on tour throughout Ontario and the prairie provinces before spcndinga month at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton in Novem ber. There’s so much to see and do in Blyth this weekend that it can keep people busy for a full two days. f. Welcome to the 26th ANNUAL THRESHER REUNION *" SAVE NOW ...on all your building needs "FREE ESTIMATES" Residential & Farm Buildings MANNING’S Building Supplies Ltd. 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