Indiana State Corn Husking Contest Oct. 3: Preserving farming heritage

BREMEN, Ind. — One day every October in the small town of Bremen, farming heritage is preserved at the Indiana State Corn Husking Contest. Young, old, men, women and children come to husk corn the old-fashioned way — by hand with horse-drawn wagons.

But it’s more than the husking.

Folks come to remember the old ways, the good days and to show today’s generations what it was like before technology and machines took over.

This year’s registration and contest will take place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 3 at Geyer Dairy Farm, 20565 Tyler Road, Bremen. The event ends when the final participant has completed husking.

For more information, contact Indiana Corn Husking Association President Clay Geyer at 574-952-7197 or husker_clay@yahoo.com. Additional details also can be found online at www.facebook.com/indianacornhusking.

The Indiana State Corn Husking Association is a non-profit organization which is dedicated to the education and historical preservation of the early methods of corn harvest and hand cornhusking. Indiana has competed since 1926.

Geyer and Geyer Farms have been hosting the Indiana State Corn Husking Contest for the last few years. He first competed in 2009 and has been involved with it ever since.

“We love hosting the event. It is important to get young folks involved,” he said. “The trouble is that many people think that folks just come and husk for a day and reminisce and that’s all there is to it. Little do they know how much planning and work goes into making this one-day event happen.”

His mother, Becky, who already handles the secretary duties of the organization, echoes this same sentiment.

“Folks don’t realize that we work all year long just to get ready for this one day,” she said. “It’s a labor of love, but it is still a labor.”

Becky’s “secretarial duties” are stretched a bit as she does all the computer work, including keeping up the database, organizing all the information and sending out informational packets to huskers, designing promotions for the husking and helping Clay with whatever else needs done.

If Becky is the behind-the-scenes person, then Sue Nielson is right out there with Clay on the front lines, so to speak. Sue, the promotions associate, is heavily involved with the promotions.

She gets the Indiana Corn Husking promotions in front of as many people as she can by implementing open houses, setting up booths at and attending farm toy shows, historical and agricultural days and many other local and state events.

Clay and Sue are at just about every event that comes along. Clay is quick to point out that just as the old saying goes that it takes a village to raise a child, it takes more than just a couple people to ensure a successful event each year.

He is thankful for other members of the organization that pitch in to help.

“Our members really are dedicated and are out there doing whatever it takes to make this a success,” he said. “Still, there are never enough volunteers.”

So, what is the big deal of coming together for just one day of husking corn? Sue probably says it best: “This event is important because, even though it is only one little part of it, it is a way of promoting agriculture and the history of agriculture.

“Cornhusking is part of that history and in today’s world, where more and more people are being drawn away from the family farm and their agricultural roots, it is important for them to know where their food comes from.”

Clay and Sue share the teaching part of it.

“We go to schools, events, just about anywhere to educate people on the old ways and how they figure into today’s food production. We do speaking engagements, we make posters, anything to get the word out,” she said.

Becky admits that you have to love what you do.

“In spite of all the work that goes into this, or any event like this, it is fun. The first year that I worked with this group, I only knew one person. Now, it’s like a family reunion each year with a lot of the same folks returning,” she said.

Many of the same huskers return, as do the workers. Jerry Calloway loves to bring his team of horses each year and has been coming to the husking event for nearly 10 years.

Another teaching opportunity, Jerry likes to have folks learn about his “gentle giants.” He has pulled dignitaries at the state fair and does horse-drawn funerals.

Even though they hold the state competition in their little corner of the world, their hopes reach much further. Only nine other states have cornhusking competitions. As important of a crop as corn is in this country, that is not a big ratio. They would like to help more states get involved and implement contests of their own.

“Each year we streamline our contest and improve from the previous year, it makes it more attractive to others,” Clay said. “We are trying to get more teams of horses so huskers don’t have to wait to husk, little things make a difference.”

“One other thing that we are doing is making registration easier with only one form to fill out instead of two. They come to husk, not do paperwork,” Becky said.

Each year they learn a little more, like on the clothing promotions. They are learning what sizes are best sellers and are learning not to put dates on them, even though people want the dates. Clothing is great promotional pieces, but when you have dates, it makes for useless inventory for anything you have left over.

When talking about funding, Becky explained that the competition pretty much funds itself, but only because of the work that Clay, Sue and the others put into it.

Clay said the biggest expense is the liability insurance.

“Anytime you have the public involved and horses and tractors, there is always a chance for a miscue and we need to cover all bases,” he said.

The day after the competition is nearly as hectic as the event itself. All results are put on the computer and equipment is washed up and put away for the next year. Clay spends a few days calling qualifiers to go to the National Corn Husking Contest.

“After these details are taken care of, we put it to bed and no one speaks of it for a month, then we start all over again. It’s like planning a wedding every year,” Becky laughed.

Then it’s time to start planning for the banquet and the following year. The National Corn Husking Competition is slated to be in Indiana within the next couple of years.

That will mean a two-day event and twice as much work like going before the board, working with the different states, implementing safety, parking and other considerations.

“No matter what event it is, our cornhusking or some other state or local event, I don’t think people realize what it takes to bring it together. You have to love it to do it,” Clay said.