The Tesmer Farm Safety Day Camp set a record for most attendees with nearly 600 students. The annual May event held at Mabel’s Steam Engine Park brings fourth graders from Fillmore and Houston County schools to learn about basic safety.
“This year was the biggest ever,” said Michael Cruse, local extension educator. “And the great thing is, it’s almost completely supported by unpaid volunteers. These are people taking time off work, sometimes unpaid, and farmers giving up a day during prime planting season. It’s really amazing!”
Cruse’s predecessor, Jerry Tesmer, was instrumental in starting the event along with several community members, about 25 years ago. It’s grown into an event that fourth graders look forward to all year. It was named after Tesmer a few years ago and is coordinated by Houston and Fillmore County Extension Offices.
The history of the County Extension Offices coordinating activities like this goes back a long way. These events were usually held at fair grounds or schools, but involved only small groups of students. “Jerry made the effort to change that,” Cruse said. “When he transitioned to being the local extension educator in both Fillmore and Houston counties, he decided to host the farm safety event in Mabel and invite all of the schools from both counties.”
On average, between 450-475 students attend the event, but this year it was just short of 600. The kids rotate through sessions covering everything from ATV safety and tractor rollovers to bicycle safety and fire extinguishers. It’s typically held the third Tuesday in May, begins around 9:30 a.m. and ends around 2 p.m.
Each year, the event incorporates farm safety with other topics that fourth graders should know regarding general safety. “This is an age when kids are being trusted to be at home on their own and becoming more independent,” said Cruse. “During Safety Day, we teach common sense things that they may have heard before, but by seeing and doing the safety demonstrations, it helps to reinforce the learning.”
There are 13 different safety stations that the students rotate through. Each station is led by volunteers who are experts in their fields. The topics this year were: Nutrition and Plant Identification, Livestock Safety, Horse Safety, Ambulance, Fire Extinguisher, Grain Drowning, Lawn Mower, Tractor Rollover, ATV, General Farm Safety, PTO, Electric Safety, Bicycle and 911.
Lunch for the students, teachers and chaperones was provided by the Houston County Cattlemen, Kwik Trip Stores, and IGA of Rushford, Harmony and Preston.
The U of M Extension offices from Fillmore and Houston counties also raise a significant amount of money through donations every year to support buying t-shirts for the students and other materials.
Participants this year came from Fillmore Central, Lanesboro, Mabel-Canton, Rushford-Peterson, Chatfield, Kingsland, St. John’s Lutheran – Wykoff, Spring Grove, Houston, Crucifixion – La Crescent, Caledonia, St. Mary’s – Caledonia, St. John’s – Caledonia, and La Crescent-Hokah schools.
Cruse said, “If there was one big take away why this program is successful it is this — our communities support it, our volunteers value it and our schools make it a priority. Thanks to everyone for another great year!”