Over three inches of rain fell. There was mud everywhere. Horses and wagons tromped through deep gullies as did tractors and people. As the day wore on, it only got muddier. Still they came, young and old… to husk. This was my third year of attending the Indiana State Corn Husking Contest. I went the first year because I was curious. I remember hand-husking corn as a kid to “open up” the fields so Dad could get his corn picker in the fields without knocking any corn down. I wanted to try it that first year because of the memories. I met a lot of nice people, it was fun and I was helping to preserve a bit of history. Did I also mention that it feeds the competitive side of me? So, I came back last year and again this year. Yep, I am hooked.

Some of central Ohio’s finest draft teams and teamsters gathered on the second weekend in October to participate in the Ohio State Hand Corn Husking Contest, held at the Wyandot County Fairgrounds in Upper Sandusky. The fairgrounds and the Koehler-Winter’s farm next to it were humming with activities related to the harvest season and otherwise. Folks made apple butter, soups, and crafts; held a farmer’s market; conducted buggy driving competition; displayed lots of antique equipment and vehicles; demonstrated tractor and horse plowing; and ate and ate and ate.

The Appleton Husker and Shredder itself was one of the very first placed on the market and it has been a great success from the start, each succeeding season serving to emphasize its success and to increase its popularity. This unequaled success is due largely to the possession of certain exclusive features which have remained practically unchanged during all the years it has been on the market. Chief among these are our knife-roll husking device, our interchangeable cutting and shredding heads, our method of driving all working parts by a single heavy belt, our superior separating and cleaning device, and our swiveling ear corn carrier and convenient blower.