The Olde Tyme Harvest has already broken records, and now it is feeding the world. The event, which saw 42 vintage threshing machines operating simultaneously, has raised $135,000 for the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.
Warren Kaeding with the Olde Tyme Harvest says that the final total is double what they expected when they began organizing the event. The success comes down to a number of factors, including the many sponsors, the generosity of attendees giving the Canadian Foodgrains Bank its biggest one-day donation, as well as the crop itself yielding more money than expected.
Feeding the hungry and a harvest are a natural fit, and Kaeding says that the Canadian Foodgrains Bank was chosen for the amount of impact it would have. He notes that they can get the federal government to multiply the donations given.
"That was the motivation for us, we could turn this into a very big project that could make a difference somewhere in the world."
Kaeding says that part of the reason for the event's success is that it went beyond being a Langenburg event, attracting attendees and volunteers from across eastern Saskatchewan and western Manitoba.
A large part of that volunteer base were young people, often in their 20s and 30s, and Kaeding says it was a way for them to connect with their own past, and the way their grandparents farmed long before they came along.
"Asking them why they wanted to be so involved, generally it was because their grandparents always told them stories about when they were kids and how hard they worked and what they did. They believed this would be the only opportunity they would get to participate in something they heard about for their entire lives," Kaeding says.
The event needed those volunteers for the sheer scale of the day. Kaeding says that it took around 400 volunteers and sixteen months of planning to have the event come together.
In spite of the success, Kaeding anticipates that this will be Langenburg's only Olde Tyme Harvest.
"It was a lot more time consuming than any of us had anticipated. Even though it was extremely worthwhile and we are pleased with the results, it will probably be a one-off event in the Langenburg area."
That said, he also predicts similar events might take place in other places, with a town in Manitoba currently considering holding their own event in 2015.
