If you are looking for some good old fashioned fun, filled with free activities for the whole family, plan to come to the 2026 Threshing Festival and Power Show on Saturday, July 25. The event will be hosted by the Hardin County Farm Museum on location north of Eldora. There is no admission to the show and all activities are free.

The 2026 Threshing Festival and Power Show will feature all makes and models of tractors. Exhibitors are also encouraged to bring hit & miss engines, machinery, old trucks and whatever power equipment that anyone wants to display. There is no registration fee for participants. Please call Jason at 515-231-2377 if you have questions about the show.

The Threshing Festival and Power Show will also feature old fashioned machinery demonstrations. Museum volunteers will be threshing oat bundles using vintage equipment. These oat bundles were grown, cut, and bundled on the museum grounds. Other demonstrations will include combining oats, baling straw, corn shelling, plowing and a blacksmith.

Be sure to check out the Farm Museum’s stationary hay baler which is one of the first types of hay balers invented in the late 1890s. This baler is one of few of this kind still in existence. Volunteers will demonstrate this old way of baling to festival goers.

Bring the kids along for free hands-on activities including a petting barn, rope making, outdoor games, make-and-take pioneer crafts, wagon rides, and a giant corn box to play in. The Goose Creek Schoolhouse will be open for visitors and gives a glimpse of what it was like to attend school in a one-room schoolhouse. Don’t miss the barn loft filled with antiques and artifacts of our area’s agricultural past and the out buildings filled with tractors and machinery. The Ellis Country Church will also be open for visitors to view.

At 10 a.m., under the barn awning, be sure to attend a living history presentation entitled “250 years – America’s Journey”, featuring historical figures in character telling the story of our nation’s past, patriotic music, and audience participation. This live presentation commemorates America’s 250th birthday and is something you won’t want to miss!

Everyone is invited to cool off under the barn awning at 1 p.m.and enjoy an hour of free BINGO with prizes for winners.

Sit back and enjoy live music under the awning. Enjoy old time favorites by John Schumacher during the pancake breakfast from 7 – 9:30 a.m. and stay for the Backporch Pickers as they entertain festival goers with their country classics from 11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Food will be available inside the Farm Museum Barn starting from 7- 9:30 a.m. with a pancake breakfast. The Hardin County Pork Producers will be grilling pork burgers with a full meal available from 11 a.m.-1:00 p.m.. Museum volunteers note that homemade pie and ice cream will also be available all day inside the barn.

Plan now to attend the Hardin County Farm Museum’s Threshing and Power Show on Saturday, July 25 and enjoy old fashioned fun for the whole family. The Hardin County Farm Museum grounds are located at 203 N. Washington Street, Eldora, Iowa. This is one mile north from the stoplight in Eldora on the east side of the road. Look for the big white barn.