e-Scapes
Travel trends, tips and tidbits from ABC News
RECENT POSTS
- AirTran Puts Ads on Seatbacks
- Sofitel Creates New 'Legend' Luxury Brand
- Nostalgia in Nebraska: Competitors Husk Corn by Hand, Vie for Spot at Nationals
- Win a Free Night at 86 Sheratons
- U.K. Celebrates Darwin and Dating
- SJU v. SJO? Travel Gaffe, a Costly $2,150 Mistake
- Beating London's Winter Blues
- This Weekend in London…
- 2009 Marks the Year of the Ox & Obama
- Continental Tests Biofuels To Power Flight
MONTHLY ARCHIVES
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 |
| 29 | 30 |
« Previous | Main | Next »
Nostalgia in Nebraska: Competitors Husk Corn by Hand, Vie for Spot at Nationals
October 12, 2009 5:47 PM
Harvesting corn by hand is not a day-to-day chore these days -- but once a year, Nebraskans give in to the nostalgia and make a sport of it at the Nebraska State Hand Cornhusking Contest. Competitors range from pre-teens to adults, with plenty of "golden agers" on hand. For those in this 75-and-older category, the contest is a yearly chance to get back to their roots. Many picked corn by hand as kids on their family farms.
On Saturday, about 50 competitors walked down rows of a snow-covered field, plucking ears of corn from the stalks, ripping off their husks and tossing them over their shoulders into wagons towed by huge draft horses. Contestants went for a set amount of time, depending on the category they fell into. After time was up, volunteers scooped the corn from each contestant's wagon into a bin and took each to be weighed.
The weather wasn't kind this year, with temperatures below the freezing mark and an inch and a half of snow on the ground. Attendance was down from the usual 70 or so competitors, but given the weather, organizer Elaine Stuhr was pleased with the turnout.
The top competitors in each of the 13 categories advance to the nationals which will be held in Huntington, Ind., on Oct. 17-18. This year, in the "golden ager" category, the top three competitors were William Gentrup, 80, of West Point, Neb., (first place winner), Roland Lauer, 82, from Gothenberg, Neb. (second place) and in third place, Jack Guthrie, 79, of Odesssa, Neb.
The tradition of cornhusking contests stretches back to 1924, the first year of the Mid-West Cornhusking Contest that pitted farmers from Iowa, Nebraska and Indiana against each other. By 1933, the national contest, which was held in Nebraska, drew 70,000 people, according to contest organizers. Now, of course, combines and tractors have replaced the human labor that went into harvesting a field, but for one day a year, Nebraskans can satisfy their desire for a taste of the olden days.
-- Emily Ingram, ABC News on Campus reporter at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln
October 12, 2009 | Permalink | User Comments (0)
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
Post a comment
