Fall festival honors rural school tradition

By VICTOR MEZA III
People gathered around the Bloomfield #1 Schoolhouse in Hillsboro last Sunday for the Traill County Historical Society’s 4th annual fall festival at Heritage Park.
The Historical Society puts on the carnival not just for kids, but also to create an awareness of the rural school museum by sharing activities familiar to the 1920-circa school building.
In decades past, rural schools put on carnivals in the fall to raise money for books and other teaching materials.
John Wright, president of the historical society, noted that on October 28, 1937, Bloomfield School had a carnival just like the one held Sunday. Back then, Bingo games and the fish pond were popular. That year, the carnival raised $32 for building upkeep and to obtain teaching materials.
Amid smiles, warmth and a strong south wind, a crowd of nearly 80 people gathered Sunday afternoon. TCHS volunteers considered the carnival atmosphere a success.
Since the festival is aimed at children and family fun, the Historical Society set up many games and provided snacks. Children got to test their skills at ring toss, fishing pond, bean bag toss and the duck pond — where you pick a rubber duck from the water and win a prize corresponding with the number on the bottom of the duck.
Kids wrapped up the flurry of activities with a couple of rounds of potato sack races.
Members of the Historical Society set up a station with a 1911 rope-making device, which the kids all tried. After the kids were done they were given what they had made.
For their efforts, children earned small toys as prizes.
Wright said the society has been putting on the festival annually for four years. He joked that the only thing he needed to remember was to keep the snack table downwind because of the strong windy day.
“I don’t think that I would make a good Shriner,” Wright admitted, as he made messy cotton candy for the kids.
For people looking for a snack, there was cotton candy, popcorn, cookies and juice — all for a freewill donation. There was also a farmers’ market so that people could buy and sell garden vegetables.
The refurbished schoolhouse was moved to town in 2003 by the Historical Society. The schoolhouse was rejuvenated from the floors up. Donations from the community and fundraisers helped pay for the project.
The one-room school house is a big white wooden building. As you enter, there is a chemical bathroom with an identical one in the back of the building. “Chemical” means they are indoor outhouses that had to emptied on a regular basis.
Inside the classroom are a dozen antique desks and teaching materials on the desks and on walls. Children were invited to take a seat and use crayons and paper for impromptu art projects.
The historical society’s next event in its annual fall meeting. Entertainer Eric Bergeson is the guest for the evening Monday, October 22 at the St.Olaf All-Faith Chapel next door to the schoolhouse.