Progress show visits Boilers' back 40
High
quality photo(755Kb)
|
|
Using a printout of the maze to guide them,
graduate student Ignacio Colonna and professors Bob Nielsen and
Sam Parsons (left to right), etched out the maze with a mower
in June. (photo by Tom Campbell)
|
By TOM CAMPBELL
With an armada of 500 volunteers to back her up, and the Indiana State
Fair put to bed for another year, Dana Neary says she is finally ready
for the Farm Progress Show to begin.
Neary helps coordinate the Purdue University College of Agriculture's
role in events like Bug Bowl, the state fair, and — every three
years — the Farm Progress Show.
"Purdue has always played a major role in the Farm Progress Show, every
time it comes to Indiana," says Neary, "and this year will be no exception."
Some 300,000 visitors are expected to tour displays Sept. 25-27 on
the adjacent farms of Jerry Smit, BS '78, and Alan Kemper, just south
of Lafayette. Neighboring farmers Lawrence Gamble, Forrest Johnson and
John Rice are also hosting the exhibition.
Prairie Farmer Magazine sponsors the event, rotated annually
between farm sites in Indiana, Illinois and Iowa.
"The close proximity to the university has given us a unique opportunity
to do some things we normally could not do at other Farm Progress Show
sites," Neary says.
What jumps out first at the 1,500-acre show site is the Boiler Mazer,
a five-acre corn maze shaped like the Boilermaker Special train.
But Purdue's involvement goes beyond the maze. Purdue exhibits will
cover more than 22,000 square feet of display space inside the tent
city exhibit area, and Purdue staff and faculty will present an antique
threshing demonstration and produce alternative crops in an international
garden, among other things.
Next Page -->
