Annual Quincy event returns to thank farmers

Dancing horses to make debut in parade

QUINCY — It's the second Saturday in September this weekend, which in Quincy means it's time to thank a farmer.

The 26th annual Farmer-Consumer Awareness Day will kick off Saturday morning with a Lions breakfast at the Quincy High School multi-purpose room, which lasts from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.

At 8:30 a.m., the 2K Fun Run will begin at the high school track field, followed by the 5K Fun Run at 9 a.m.

Tours of varying lengths, ranging from two hours to three hours, will go around the area throughout the day, including a geology tour, an apple tour, tours of potato and vegetable processing companies, various wineries and a crop tour.

The grand parade begins its progression through downtown Quincy at 10 a.m.

Parade Chair Anne Durfee said the parade includes dancing horses, possibly for use as advertisements.

"It's a young man that works here in town, and it's something that they do back in Mexico — they wear old-fashioned costumes and then they'll have a band following them in the parade and the horses dance to the music," she said. "I haven't seen it yet, so it's hard to explain, but it sounds exciting."

Parade floats include a stagecoach comprised of horse shoes and an old fashioned-red carriage pulled by Clydesdale horses.

Lisa Karstetter is executive director of the Quincy Valley Chamber of Commerce, which sponsors the awareness day's fun run. She said Quincy is beginning to think of itself as the place where agriculture meets technology, pointing at the recent Quincy developments of Yahoo! and Microsoft Network to build data storage centers.

"If you look at how far farming and farming and practices have come with the help of modern technology, farmers are more efficient," she said, noting that most contemporary farming practices use technology and are done electronically, adding with a laugh that there have been jokes about the cruising the crops tour including the new data farms.

Karstetter believes it's possible for the newest chapter in Quincy's history — the data storage centers — to coexist peacefully alongside that which played a major part in the chapters that came before.

"I think people constantly need to be reminded where their food comes from, that we take it so for granted at times," she said. "I don't think people realize the work. If you look back at the pioneers, families all provided their own food, so you knew how hard it was to work to grow something. Whereas now, we've become such a fast food society, I don't think people really stop to think about where their food comes from, and it's sad."

Durfee agreed, saying a majority of people need to be reminded of the importance of the role farmers play.

"They think the farmers are getting rich," she said. "They're all going broke around here. Hopefully it gives out a little bit of information out to a few people living in the big cities."

Another reason to put on the event in Quincy is tradition, Karstetter said.

"It's important to celebrate yourselves and your heritage, and that is what founded Quincy — the farming and the agriculture in this area," she said. "It's a way of bringing the two together, celebration and education."