The Redwood gazette., 1934-11-15

vative, that 10000 or even 100000
might be more accurate.
Like the rewrite man you may
doubt that estimate. l wouldn't have
believed the proportions of this ma
tional event myself if the most hon
est man in the city had tried to tell
me of it.
Ralph Wingate and I looked back
at the hill, previously mentioned,
while we were near Ted's wagon and
guessed that it contained more peo-
pie than could get into half of the
Minnesota stadium, which would be
10000. Undoubtedly there were more
in the cornfeld and as many at least
around the grounds.
The whole performance is free, which
accounts for part of the crowd al
though few cents admission charge
would be small compared with the
expense many persons went to, ira
yelling to the contest. Thousands no
doubt came hundreds of miles. Out
of state cars were plentiful.
Much Work Necessary
To give some idea of the work nee
essary to stage this event: first sew
eral fields with surrounding condi-
tions suitable for handling such
crowd, are selected and arrangements
made with the farmers to plant the
right kind of corn, hybrid heavy
yield variety. The fields get twice
the care of an ordinary field and
when fall comes, the best field is
chosen. In the cornfeld proper,
lands are laid out by cutting alter
nate sections of the field and leaving
four row sections for each of the 18
huskers. Guardsmen and men on
horseback guarded the field all morn
ing to keep people from getting into
the lands where a crowd could do
considerable damage to the handicap
of some contestants. Incidently Nate
Bovee can ride horse better than
most of the county agents.
East of the corn field was a corn
stubble field about 16O rods long used
for parking cars. We arrived three
hours before the contest was due to
start, yet we filed into the field
bumper to bumper with other cars
and parked in the third double row
of cars running the length of the
field. 1t was only short time be-
fore the field was filled and cars were
parked on every available piece of
land nearby. Some left their cars in
Fairmont and walked the mile and
one-half to the field.
A big square piece of ground was
between the husking field and the
highway, bounded on the east by
part Of the main parking field. On
this plot were the tractor and other
machinery exhibits, located around
the edges and on one edge were the
church-operated eating places. Except
for these essential places, there was
no place on the grounds to spend
money. Except as an advertising
event for farm papers of several
states who sponsor it, this is nom
commercial undertaking, unique as
that may seem. 1t could be handled
to make its sponsors hundreds of
thousands of dollars, at the expense
no doubt of considerable good will.
Mention has been made of the
Scenic City band. 1t and the large
delegation of Redwood county men
and women, with badges and BAN
ners, got the city considerable pub
licity. Sending the band was the best
idea advanced for the event.
One of the marked features of the
contest was the general friendliness
of persons attending. It is truly an
informal event. However, it was
wise to avoid getting into crowds be-
cause sooner or later someone got to
pushing and everybody got squeezed.
Thanks to Bud Kelly's advice our
group used the right method to see
most with least discomfort.
Waiting for the parade to start,
someone discovered that the Redwood
Falls band was behind the wrong wag-
on. A shift had to be made. Then
Rex Miller, who was wearing Balko
banner, was pointed to by one of the
crowd who wanted to know if he was
Balko. It was capital idea and the
Redwood crowd made the most of it,
even to elevating Rex to their should
ers and leading cheers. Some of the
crowd knew better but others were
fooled. 1t went we'll until Murray
county farmer came over and con-