Taylor Horse-fest: A celebration of heritage

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Horses, mules and the farming equipment of North Dakota’s pioneer era will be showcased during the 18th annual Taylor Horse-fest.

Taylor Community Activities Inc., volunteers have finalized plans for events Friday through Sunday, July 31 at Taylor.

Gayle Elkin, TSA office volunteer, is responsible for registering vendors, musical entertainment and parade entries.

The parade count won’t be finalized until the day of Horse-fest, but she expects entries from throughout southwestern North Dakota.

“Only horses or horse-drawn equipment is allowed in the parade,” she said.

Horse-fest is a celebration of the horse, she said.

“Taylor was started with the horse — by celebrating, we’re giving them their due credit,” she said.

The musical entertainment will be under the shade of Red Barn on Heritage Hill on Saturday afternoon. It kicks off at noon with the Friday Nite Gang, followed by a Marshall church group and the Larson brothers, who are jamming with several country-western musicians.

“The amount of talent we have in Taylor is amazing,” she said.

Elkin is looking forward to the evening musical, which is a salute to Lawrence Welk.

“The musical is a big part of Horse-fest,” she said. “(Director) Jean Marcusen is fabulous at what she does for us. We have great crowds.”

Elkin has registered a number of vendors with arts, crafts and food.

“There’ll be plenty of food,” she said.

Elkin is among the many volunteers who make the Horse-fest become a reality.

“We couldn’t do it without the volunteers,” she added.

Dr. Sherman Severson, who grew up at Taylor, is coordinating the volunteers who are doing the farming demonstrations.

“There’s no grain ready for threshing, but we might cut some green oats with the header just to show how it works,” said Severson. “Then we’ll do some haying — we’ll be putting up stacks with the overshot stacker. We can do some mowing and raking. We might do some field work as far as disking or corn cultivation.”

Severson also is looking forward to the cutting horse demonstration by Rex Cook and a problem-solving seminar by Joe Fritz.

The kids will have plenty of activities to keep them occupied — games and pony rides are planned from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The four children of Mika and Janine Olson will be riding in the Horse-fest parade.

“My husband is a big-time cowboy — he likes to ride and he trains horses,” said Janine Olson. “Of course, our children are riders and we have enough horses for all of them to ride. I think the kids and Mika look forward to the day — it’s to celebrate horsemanship.”

Volunteer John Enderle describes himself as a TSA go-fer — helping out wherever needed.

Horse-fest has become a part of Taylor, he said, with its parade, music and farming demonstrations.

“There’s always a surprise or two — something we’ve never seen before will show up,” he said.

He and his wife Karen have served on the board for more than 14 years.

Karen Enderle, who serves as TSA secretary, said proceeds go toward go toward land improvements and community projects in Taylor.

“We need to be putting bathrooms on the hill — we have the water, but now we’re working on the rest,” she said.

The TSA also assists with other community projects, including Santa bags for the children at Christmas and Camp ReCreation in Richardton.

In addition to Taylor Horse-Fest, the TSA sponsors a planting day in the spring, a tractor journey in the fall and Good Ole Taylor Days.

For more information,visit the website, www.taylorhorsefest.com. or call 701-974-4210 or 877-757-7545.

Tags: taylor horse-fest, lifestyle, taylor