For those looking for unique items, this weekend the Pioneer Harvest Fiesta (PHF) Swap Meet will be happening at the Bourbon County Fairgrounds on South Horton Street.

“You can find tractor parts, crafts, lots of odds and ends,” PHF President Craig Shikles (Pronounced “Shy-kullz.”) said. “It is coinciding with the (Fort Scott) town wide yard sale.”

“We will be serving biscuits and gravy with real gravy, not from the box,” he said. “For lunch we will be selling hot dogs and brats, tips and also home made desserts.”

“We will be located in the cattle barn at the fairgrounds,” he said. “So no matter what weather, we will be under cover.”

The swap meet will be Friday and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Pioneer Harvest Fiesta

The first weekend in October is the traditional annual Pioneer Harvest Fiesta, this year Sept. 30, Oct. 1-2.

The event kicks off with a parade of antique, classic farm implements and more through Fort Scott’s historic downtown on Thursday, September 29 at 6 PM.

Experience educational and historic exhibits, refreshments and live musical entertainment all weekend. All three days are alive with steam engines, blacksmiths, food and flea market vendors, drag saw demonstrations, tractors and gas engines on display, Baker Fan demonstrations.

The public is invited to also enjoy  arts and crafts, quilt show, straw bailing, wheat thrashing, corn husking/shelling, rock crushing, saw mill operation, and many more  events!

Kick off fall in the four-state’s region by attending the 66th annual Pioneer Harvest Fiesta, at the Bourbon County Fairgrounds in  Fort Scott.

About the New President

Shikles, 67, was elected president in December 2021 of PHF.

“I had been president before,” he said.

He is retired from Missouri State University as a custodial foreman in the residential life department, he said.

Shikles became a part of PHF about 30 years ago, following a interest in steam engines, he said.

He is a licensed steam engine operator, one of three at the PHF.

“Steam engines are unique,” he said. “You put water in them…and they become alive. Wood is the fuel. It’s an external combustion engine. You start with cold water and it takes four hours to get them up to 360 degrees steam. They are really powerful.”

 

 

Contacts for Pioneer Harvest Fiesta

The PHF meets at 7:30 p.m. the third Thursday of each month at the Yeager Building at the fairgrounds. Dues are $10 a year.