Outdoor Cooking, 1961.

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Couple posing outdoors in backyard, 1961. From this set.

Easter Egg Hunt, 1961.

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Severely underexposed slide from this set, made legible through Photoshop: a small child, bundled tightly against the elements, picking up an Easter egg near a propane tank, 1961.

Minnesota's Christmas Tree, 1961.

In 1961, new governor Elmer Andersen sent his finest tree-experts to find a grand tree, an amazing tree, a tree that was big and accessible to crane, to place on the State Capital lawn. The tree was found in the pasture of Seldon Banks, who donated it to the state. The image above is of Andersen's first official Minnesota Christmas Tree, from the year before; the misleading caption referring to the "Second tree" in the article is the 1962 tree that was erected before The Farmer could get a photo for their cover.

A-C WD and Swather, 1961

An Allis-Chalmers WD pulling a swather; dated by lab "Aug 1961".

4Hers At Roundup, 1961

4H members staying out of the sun during the 1961 Round-Up, a sort of 4H-only county fair held in Moorhead, Minnesota for Clay County members. From a 35mm slide.

4H IH Scout

The float aside, that bright red truck is the focus here (also seen here, and here) The owner of this truck was a forward thinker: the shiny, new truck seen here was from the first year International Harvester made the Scout, its answer to the Jeep. At the time, tractor manufacturers weren't specifically tractor manufacturers: they made all kinds of motorized stuff beneficial to farmers. IH saw a need for a heavy-duty farm vehicle that Willis' Jeep was fulfilling, and came up with the Scout. Ford eventually followed with its Bronco, but the gas-conservation of the 70s mostly killed off these smaller versions of what we'd call an SUV. You may not know, but IH made the Scout until 1980: that's almost 20 years on the road.

4H in Downtown Moorhead, Minnesota, 1961

This photo was taken, looking west, down Center Avenue in Moorhead Minnesota, in 1961. These floats, all from 4Hers around Clay County, were on their way to the 4H Roundup in town. Much of what's seen here is still around, despite the flurry of Urban Renewal a few years later (most of that happened just off to the right of the photo) -- in the distance, that tall sign is the FM Hotel, now an office building; the sign now has the US Bank logo. That building in the foreground, with the Anderson Pontiac sign, and the building next to it, are still around, but I'm not sure what's occupying them now.

see also: older Washington 4H parades * Cali 4H in the 20s * Moorhead Center Mall history