Go back in time

By Nate Robson / The Citizen

Friday, June 6, 2008 11:42 PM EDT

Anyone who can't figure out how to attach the flux capacitor to their DeLorean will still have a chance to travel back in time courtesy of the Old Ways Day held at the Ward W. O'Hara Agricultural Museum.
Norman Riley, chairman of the museum's board of commissioners, said visitors will get to peek into the past as they putter around in a Model T Ford, ponder the beauty of an antique tractor or participate in cast iron cooking.

“There's a lot of central New York's history to see here that you can't see anywhere else,” Riley said. “It's fun to see how these things operated and worked back in the old days.”

Bunny Baker, who will be doing the cast iron cooking demonstration with her husband Paul Baker, said she enjoyed sharing her knowledge and food with the spectators.

“It's interesting to talk to the people who will come up and ask how to clean or use a piece of cast iron that their parents or grandparents had,” Bunny said. “It's fascinating to be able to help people to use a part of the past.”

And people really could be using a part of the past because nothing ages like a cast iron pan.

“One of my pans is more than 100 years old,” Bunny said. “They don't make Teflon pans like that. Teflon hasn't even been around that long yet. Teflon also wears down over time; cast iron doesn't.”

But cooking is not the only thing people can experience as they journey across the museum grounds.

Jackie Komanecky, a museum commissioner and daughter of Ward W. O'Hara, said another demonstration will show how clothing was made back in the day.

“The spinning and weaving demonstrations will show the whole process of making clothing from start to finish,” Komanecky said. “From taking hair off of the rabbit with a brush to spinning it into a product.”

There will also be an old treadle sewing machine, hand-churned ice cream for when if it gets too hot, and horse and wagon or Ford Model T rides for people who want to take a load off their feet. A new Cayuga County Dairy Princess will be crowned as well.

Farmers and gear heads alike will also get a chance to reminisce during the antique tractor show, which will feature 35 tractors, some of which will have old farming equipment hooked up, Riley said.

Visitors who wish to step away from the farming scene can visit the 1800s-era schoolhouse or general store.

“People can see a teacher with her class or go to the store and see how people shopped back then,” Komanecky said.

People could also stop to see the local veterinarian, who will talk about medical training in the 1800s, watch a blacksmith making horse shoes out of smoldering hot metal or visit the wood-working shop, among other activities that make up the nonagriculturally oriented events, Riley said.

“While this is an agriculture museum, not everything here is agricultural,” Riley said. “It's fun for the people to see all the aspects of life back then and to see how hard things were in the old days. It can make you appreciate the ways things are done now.”

Staff writer Nate Robson can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 248 or nathan.robson@lee.net

If you go

What: Old Ways Day

When: 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, June 7

Where: Ward W. O'Hara Agricultural Museum, Route 38A, Owasco

Cost: Entrance and rides are free

Info: Call 252-7644

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