Rural Urban Day Venue Changes
An event that began 36 years ago with a couple of hundred people in attendance will likely have more than 1,200 on hand this year to celebrate the importance of agriculture in Gratiot County.
Rural Urban Day will take place this Thursday, and for the first time it will be held somewhere other than Hidden Oaks Golf Course in St. Louis.
The new venue is the Alma Fairgrounds. Dinner will be served from 4:30 pm to 7 p.m. The highlight of the event is naming the recipients of the county’s Farm Family of the Year and Agribusiness of the Year awards.
The new location was selected for safety reasons, Gratiot Area Chamber of Commerce Director Pat Nelson said.
“We have a lot of senior citizens who attend and they have to walk up and down hills (at the golf course) to get where they are going,” she explained. “The committee was very concerned about that and thought it could be an issue. We have never had anything happen but it was a concern.”
Organizers were also worried because the golf course is located nearly a mile off M-46 and can only be accessed by a narrow, winding dirt road.
In addition, there were very few places to take cover in the event severe weather hit.
The fairgrounds, on the other hand, has several buildings, a large covered arena and ample parking to accommodate guests.
“We are very happy to be partners with the Gratiot County Fair for Youth in this,” Nelson said. “It also provides us with a lot more volunteers.”
It takes more than 100 people to work the day of the event to assist with parking, cooking, serving food and cleaning up, she added.
Nelson expects between 1,000 and 1,200 guests to attend the festivities.
The meal includes steak, corn-on-the-cob, baked beans, bread, watermelon and beverages. Tickets are $9 a person.
Rural Urban Day in its present form began in 1976, when the Alma, St. Louis, Ithaca and Breckenridge chambers of commerce joined forces and founded the event as a salute to local farmers.
Prior to that the county’s Rotary Clubs held an “Agricultural Appreciation Day” that included farm tours, lunch and a guest speaker.
“I’ve talked to other chamber directors around the state and they think this is a very unique event,” Nelson said. “Other communities are very envious of us. We are very proud of it.”
The winner of the first Farm Family of the Year in 1977 was the Ken Graham Family. Last year’s recipients were Dave and Jan Eckelbarger and Family.
The Agribusiness of the Year Award was first given in 1996 to Bader and Sons of St. Louis. The 2010 winner was the Ithaca Feed Center.
The identity of the recipients of both awards is kept secret until announced at Rural Urban Day by the previous year’s honorees.
Tickets can still be purchased for the event at Bader and Sons, St. Louis City Hall, Commercial Bank, Firstbank, Chemical Bank, Isabella Bank, Farm Credit Services in Alma, MAC in Breckenridge and the chamber office in Alma.
For more information, call the chamber at 989.463.5525.
For the full article, see the Gratiot County Herald.