By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
Most of the "old-time" sights and sounds were new to the third-graders who participated in Wednesday's Pioneer Days at the Ellis County Historical Society grounds, Seventh and Main in Hays.
"They're finding out what it was like in the 'olden days' on the prairie with no electricity," said Amanda Rupp, Ellis County Historical Society executive director.
"What did you do for fun at recess when there were no basketball courts? How did dinner get prepared?
"Maybe this will inspire the kids to think out of the box and how to make something work when something else won't," Rupp said.
The modern-day children learned that instead of playing video games, pioneer children played marbles and ran three-legged races and egg-spoon races for their entertainment.
Some of the youngsters come from a rural background and immediately recognized the stalk of ripe wheat passed around at the homemade bread and butter demonstration by Donna Maskus, volunteer and society board member.
Many of the 170 students from Holy Family, Wilson, and Lincoln elementary schools, along with Washington Grade School in Ellis, had seen horses before but not up close and personal.
They learned that horses were the primary source of transportation for their forebearers on the prairie.
Members of the Fort Hays State University Rodeo Club also brought their lariats to show off their calf-roping skills, which each child got to try.
Nine stations were set up for the children to learn about life in the past from about 20 volunteers.
The information shared was geared toward the third-grade curriculum.
"It's within their realm of understanding," Rupp said. "They're so inquisitive and filled with questions."
The third-graders found it hard to imagine their entire family living in a one-room house, which they discovered in the Volga Haus exhibit.
They found out at the laundry station there were no extensive wardrobes. Clothes were made by hand and washed with lye soap only occasionally.
Sing-alongs were popular entertainment, and the students sang historic songs, including the Kansas state song "Home on the Range."
There were no supermarkets to shop at. Frontier families raised and butchered their own beef and pork during the winter to take advantage of cold temperatures. There was no refrigeration, either.
The groups learned that corn was for more than just eating. During a tour of the Harness Shop, they also learned about the need for barbed wire fences.
Looking ahead to the next ten years of Pioneer Days, Rupp expects it to evolve to include things like using rotary dial phones, "something their grandparents may have done, not the first pioneers.
"They might hear their grandparents talking about it a little bit, how they made things work. It's good to remember how things were when they didn't have everything," Rupp said.