BonnerSprings.com

“Rain, rain go away” was certainly a phrase running through most of the coordinators’ minds during Saturday’s Horse Power Day and Hoedown event at the National Agricultural Hall of Fame.

But the few brave event attendees, who showed up bearing rain ponchos or umbrellas, didn’t seem to mind the dismal weather too much.

“He loves tractors and horses. He calls them ‘neigh-neighs,’” Wendy Wilson, from Overland Park, said of her 2-year-old grandson John, who spent the early afternoon grinding corn, feeding chickens and petting the horses that were on-site as part of the event. “It’s just rain. We thought we’d catch (the event) in between drops … we promised our grandson that he could see horses and tractors, and this is a wonderful place.”

The Horse Power Day, a fundraiser for the Ag Hall of Fame, featured a visit from the Shawnee County Sheriff’s Office Mounted Posse, horse plowing demonstrations and horse shoeing demonstrations, among others. The early afternoon rain, however, canceled several of the originally-scheduled events, including the draft horse pull, which had to be canceled as the ground had become too muddy, and all of the 4-H demonstrations.

Mollie Hoge, 10-year-old member of the Reno Bobwhites 4-H Club, had expected to give a demonstration about the digestive system of a horse. She said she had planned to illustrate where the digestive organs of a horse are located in its body by painting them on her own horse, named Red.

Though Hoge said she was disappointed at not being able to present, she enjoyed herself all the same. Some of her favorite parts of the event, she said, were the horse shoe demonstrations and a roping demonstration where she got to try her hand at lassoing a chair.

“(I’ve) really enjoyed everything pretty much,” she said.

In an interview following the Horse Power Day, event coordinator Cathi Hahner said the sky began to clear about 1:30 in the afternoon — a little too late for the event, which started at 11 a.m., to draw the crowds she had been expecting. Still, she said, the evening hoedown had about 300 people in attendance.

“I think (the event) went as well as expected, and we really appreciate those that did stay with us,” Hahner said.

It’s too early to tell, Hahner said, how much money the Horse Power Day raised for the Ag Hall of Fame, but she said sponsorships from several companies, including Coleman Equipment Inc. in Bonner Springs and McGraw’s Fertilizer Services in Tonganoxie, prevented the center from losing any money as a result of event expenses.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t have a lot of admissions,” Hahner said. “We are lucky the sponsorships covered all the expenses that we had. We certainly will not make the income we had hoped for, but we will have made some (money) for the day.”

As to whether Horse Power Day will be on next summer’s schedule, Hahner said event organizers would have to determine its usefulness to the Ag Hall as a fundraiser. And, of course, pray for better weather.

“The event has a lot of potential,” she said.

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