Center provides hands-on activities for kids to learn about Logan County’s proud ag background.
It’s no secret that agriculture plays a dominant role in Logan Couhttps://www.gotothinktank.com/nty. Now, with the grand opening of Overland Trail Museum’s new Propst Agriculture Center for Kids on Saturday, there is a place where children can go to learn all about this vital industry.
Museum staff, members of the Propst family including Joel and Peggy and Koger and Marcie Propst, Logan County Historical Society representative Marilyn Hutt and Logan County Chamber of Commerce members gathered Saturday morning for a ribbon-cutting to officially open the new center, which was funded through a generous donation from the Keith and Nell Brown Propst family, as well as funds from the Historical Society.
“This exhibit has been a lot of fun, it’s been really different because it’s not centered around artifacts, it’s purely for fun and education,” museum curator Kay Rich said, adding that “it will be an evolving exhibit as we go, we’ll probably add to it as we watch kids and kind of see how they interact with everything that’s in here.”
The highlight of the new ag center is Bella The Incredible Milking Cow, who stands next to a beautiful map showing the various towns in Logan County. During Saturday’s event, children were anxious to try their hand at milking Bella while listening to her share facts about the dairy industry.
With the exception of Bella, technology in the ag center is limited.
“It’s very low tech, which was on purpose, a lot of hands-on anymore is just touching a button and we didn’t want that, we wanted to kind of go back to true hands-on and hopefully we have achieved that,” Rich said.
Across from the milking cow, you’ll find a saddle and a full-size wooden rocking horse made by Sara Bledsoe, both of which offer a chance for youngsters to test out their horseback riding skills. Also nearby is a chicken coop, where children can gather eggs and weigh them on a scale.
In other parts of the center, children can use a hand pump to learn about irrigation, pick apples from a tree, plant and sort vegetables in a sensory planting box, visit a farmers market where they can decide what food they want to purchase, and then ring it up at the cash register, and plan healthy meals at the kitchen picnic table.
There is also a pedal tractor, so youngsters can practice plowing in a straight line.
In addition to the opening of the new ag center, the museum also celebrated the 10th birthday of the High Plains Education Center with root beer floats and cake, and the 145th birthday of Colorado with some Colorado Day Activities in the HPEC.
The new ag center is one of two projects that the Propst donation will be used for. Funds from the donation are also going toward a Talking Audio Trail Tour, which is expected to be completed early this fall. Meant to be part of the Logan County Talking Trail completed by the Logan County Chamber of Commerce, the audio tour at the museum will feature 17 stories that can be accessed via free app or by dialing in.
Source: Journal Advocate
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