Submitted Photo The Makoti Threshing Show has been bringing history to life each year for more than 60 years. Photo by Hunter L. Andes.

Special to The Minot Daily News

MAKOTI – Year after year hundreds flock to the town of Makoti to remember what the pioneers had to endure on the harsh North Dakota prairies in the early 20th century.

This year marks the 64th annual show, and it will take place July 12-14. Saturday’s parade is at 3 p.m. and Sunday’s parade is at 1 p.m.

Makoti’s devout volunteers have been bringing history alive for the past 64 years, and although the Makoti Thresher’s Association (MTA) has faced some difficult years, the good fight in remaining relevant for 21st century youth still continues.

MTA’s beginnings

The steam whistle first blew at Makoti’s Golden Jubilee in July of 1961 when Clarence Schenfisch, a progressive farmer in Mountrail Township, southwest of Makoti, brought his collection of antique farm machinery into town for the celebration. He encouraged others to do the same.

According to the MTA Silver Anniversary book, Schenfisch had a love for old machines. The book states, “His hobby of restoring old tractors started in 1957 – ‘They’re just too much a part of the past to be left in the fields to rust,’ (Schenfisch once said). During the Makoti Golden Jubilee in 1961, his idea of saving old machines caught on. Inspired by public interest, the MTA was formed.”

Many of the rare tractors, steam engines and stationary engines that are still in Makoti today were pulled out of rock piles, tree rows, etc. in the late 1950s and early 1960s because of Schenfisch’s vision to preserve local history for future generations. Without Schenfisch, much of what is preserved today from southeast Mountrail County, southwest Ward County, and northern McLean County would likely have rusted away.

Legacy

Schenfisch only lived a couple of years into what he had started, but his legacy continues to arouse one’s senses to a much different way of life. Each year since 1961, “the buildings housing the antiques are opened — each year the machines are awakened, spruced up, and paraded for all to see and hear” (MTA Silver Anniversary book, 1986).

Area threshing shows:

– Drake Threshing Association, Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 7-8, threshing grounds at Drake.

A plaque in Makoti reads:

“Clarence C. Schenfisch (1920-1964) had the vision and foresight to see the historical value and general interest in preserving pioneer farm machinery. His original collection of more than a dozen tractors, which he restored himself, was the beginning of the present Makoti Threshers Association. May all who view this collection of antique farm equipment know that Clarence was originator of it all in this community.”