Yesterday’s Festival takes us back in time

J.J. Adams and Melody Adams shelling corn.

Special to the Monitor

The Mike Roess Gold Head Branch State Park hosted the 19th annual Yesterday’s Festival on Saturday, January 25.

According to the Yesterday’s Festival’s Facebook page, the event transported visitors back in time to witness pioneer woodworking, live music, tram rides, food trucks, historical demonstrations, antique tractors and machines, cannon and muskets, a children’s story time, and more.

The event started with a Keystone Heights Junior-Senior High School J.R.O.T.C. presentation, followed by music and several reenactments.

Larry Henderson, past president, one of the founders, and a board member of the Yesterday’s Festival, said, “We came up with the Yesterday’s Festival 19 years ago to remember the past, bring things back that people, especially the younger generation, haven’t seen. The main purpose of it was to get families to come out with their kids and have fun.”

 

 

 

Evolution of the water pump, with a human-powered version on the left and a more advanced version on the right.
Warren Kyle, Jonas Kyle, and Eliana Kyle get a close-up view of artillery.
Cannon demonstrators Rick Roberts, Jack Newman, Chris Bunton
Blacksmith demonstrators Luke and Erin Harlow. Blacksmith
Volunteers Larry Henderson, Kim Fox, Sue Boone
A staple during the 19 years of the Yesterday’s Festival: the John Deere tractor.
Joesph Sekel and Max Sekel experience life before chainsaws.
Elizabeth Smith of the Florida Forestry Service, with her display.