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Festival delivers taste of the harvest
Rachal Mattson/Post-Register
Daisy Cabrera, Madeline Vance and Rosey Combs press apples for cider while Tom Snyder watches at last Saturday’s Harvest Festival at the Reiman-Simmons House in Quincy.
The Harvest Festival at the Reiman-Simmons House was a success last Saturday, even though attendance was down, probably partially due to cold weather.
Each year the Reiman-Simmons House sponsors a harvest festival, along with other events, to help visitors learn about what pioneer life was like at the time the house was built.
“This is a really important event for the community,” said Harriet Weber, the festival’s organizer. “It’s a lot of fun for children to participate in and learn about pioneer life. It allows people to take pride in their heritage. This was our eighth year. The harvest festival is something that we want to keep doing.”
The festival started off with a plaza dedication at 11:30 a.m. The plaza became the home of the Quincy Centennial time capsule, which houses different items from the Quincy Centennial and other items that represent Quincy life.
Outside of the house, visitors could make candles, churn milk to make butter and do laundry by hand.
They could also pump water and shell dried corn off of the cob and grind wheat using old-fashioned machinery. There were barnyard animals to pet and a hay ride to go on. An old-fashioned apple slicer and press was in operation for anyone interested in learning how to make apple cider. Children were also able to walk across a rope bridge tied between two trees.
To add to the festive mood, “All Strings Considered” from Wenatchee played Americana-style background music. This ethnic and folk music was the kind that used to be played in rural locations between 1820 and 1920.
Visitors wishing to eat could visit the chuckwagon, owned by Bob Ottmar of Moses Lake, and eat salt pork and beans like field crews in early Quincy history once did. Also, the new summer kitchen at the Reiman-Simmons house was being used to make different food items.
The Sagebrush Mercantile was open for anyone wishing to learn about and experience more of pioneer life at home. There were also vendors selling handmade cloth and horseshoe
