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September 13, 2008

Prairie Day reflects Carver’s early years

By Greg Grisolano

ggrisolano@joplinglobe.com

DIAMOND, Mo. — Looming storm clouds and the threat of heavy rains didn’t deter Harry Moss and his family from attending the Prairie Day celebration at the George Washington Carver National Monument on Saturday.

“We brought raincoats and ponchos,” said Moss, of Seneca, who brought his wife and grandchildren to the event. “We just figured we’d come and deal with the weather.”

Aside from some early-morning showers that led to the cancellation of horse-drawn carriage rides through the prairie surrounding the monument, the weather was relatively dry during the celebration, which lasted from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Lana Henry, one of the organizers of Prairie Day, said the event had drawn more than 500 visitors before noon.

“We have had a wonderful turnout, even with the rain this morning,” she said. “I’m sure we’ll break one thousand for the event.”

In addition to the regular exhibits that feature vignettes into George Washington Carver’s life and times, Prairie Day also offered visitors a chance to see demonstrations of quilt making, basket weaving and other old-time displays of country customs. Storytelling, dulcimer music and live bands were also part of the festivities.

With the event now entering its second decade, Henry said the displays offered at Prairie Day are designed to provide visitors with a glimpse of what life was like for Carver as a boy.

“He turned his life into helping others — it’s what he called his destiny,” she said. “And we can trace that back to his formative years here on this farm.”

Much of Carver’s fame was based on his research and promotion of alternative crops to cotton, such as peanuts and sweet potatoes. He wanted poor farmers to grow alternative crops as both a source of their own food as well as a source of other products to improve their quality of life.

Gloria Park and Paulette Wohlenhaus drew a crowd of children and parents for their quilting display. Park, of Joplin, and Wohlenhaus, of Webb City, are both members of the Town and Country Quilters group of Joplin. They said they use the event to promote quilting and to attract new members to their group.

“Quilting is almost a lost art,” Wohlenhaus said. “When (visitors) see us quilting, it helps them remember their roots. They’ll say, ‘Oh my grandmother used to do that.’”

For Moss and his family, who said they make frequent visits to the monument, the event offered new activities for the grandchildren to see.

Nine-year-old Zachary Moss said he was looking forward to the wood-carving exhibit.

“We’re never bored, because usually every time you come back, there’s something new,” he said.







Carver profile

Born in 1864, George Washington Carver was an agricultural chemist who developed crop-rotation methods for conserving nutrients in soil. He discovered hundreds of new uses for crops, such as the peanut, which created new markets for farmers, especially in the South. He died on Jan. 5, 1943. His birthplace was declared a national historic site in 1953.

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