Be Part of a Blast From the Past at McKenzie County's Heritage Day, Sept.17th

Join the McKenzie County Heritage Association for their 18th Annual Heritage Day, Saturday, Sept. 17th in Watford City, ND. Admission is a free-will donation and the fun begins at 11:00am central time at the McKenzie County Heritage Park. Attendants are encouraged to dress in period costumes. At 11:30 the District I Cattle Women will be serving up $5.00 slush burger meals until they are gone.

There will be live and recorded music throughout the day, an old –time photo booth, food vendors including Women of Epiphany and B-Bonks Bakery, and Native American dancers from the Mandaree, ND area are scheduled to perform at 12:30. The Nakota Horse Conservancy is bringing two of their beautiful Nakota horses to the event, and they will give a little bit of history about the unique breed.

A Reminiscing Panel of long-time McKenzie County residents will give a presentation about the changes that have occurred in the area over the years at noon.

There will be old-time machinery demonstrations beginning at 1:00 with the shingle mill and sawmill; the threshing machine will start running at 2:00, and at 3:00 they will fire-up the stationary bailer and give a horse-power demonstration. All of the machinery has been collected over the past 20 years and serves as a way for people to relive the past, experiencing part of farming life that may otherwise be forgotten.

There are kids' activities scheduled during the day; Mrs. Sandy Rieker will be in period dress as an old-time schoolteacher. She plans to give brief 'school house' lessons at the Nelson School at noon.

At 3:00 kids are invited to participate in the Coin Scramble; the straw from the threshing machine will be spread out with coins dispersed in it. Kids get to keep all the coins they find during the fun and frantic search.

The kids' costume competition starts at 3:30, which will award first, second, and third prizes.

Last year about 500 people attended Heritage Day, experiencing a little piece of county history, and the McKenzie County Heritage Park hopes to make this year even better. For information, visit the McKenzie County History Facebook page.