From left, program Co-Chair Christian Jackson, Kiwanis Club President Beth Bognar, Kewanee FFA President Kalleigh Gale, Wethersfield FFA President Megan Oliver, Black Hawk East livestock judging team members Olivia Shike and Chloee Barnes, and horse judging and equestrian team members Gabby Olson and Abby Cash. [Photo by Dave Clarke]

The Kewanee’s Rotary and Kiwanis clubs came together Tuesday to revive the annual Ag Day program, absent from their respective calendars for the past several years after being discontinued during the COVID pandemic.

Not forgotten were the two men who organized the program for many years, Eldon “Bud” Aupperle from the Rotary Club and Brock Tumbleson from Kiwanis.

Aupperle, founder of the now nationally acclaimed ag program at Black Hawk College-East Campus, and Tumbleson, a farm boy from Buda and one of Aupperle’s former students who became a local funeral director, were responsible for the gathering to which area farmers and others involved in local agriculture, were the invited guests.

Eldon “Bud” Aupperle

Aupperle died in 2023 and Tumbleson last year. This year, the Rotary Club decided to continue the annual “thank you” to those friends and neighbors who put food on our tables and Kiwanis was glad to get back together.

Brock Tumbleson

“We are thankful for the dedication and celebration of agriculture in our community that Bud and Brock worked on for so many years,” said Christian Jackson, program co-chair along with Merle Hall.

Rotary president Jon Looney said that, according to the most recent USDA Census of Agriculture, there are 1,270 farms in Henry County of which 94% are family owned. He said agriculture continues to be an important, if not vital part of the community.

Drew Cotton, professor of agriculture at BHE, and Aaron Callahan, equine science professor, introduced livestock judging team members Olivia Shike, of Champaign and Chloee Barnes, of Tahlequah, OK., and Gabby Olson, of Viroqua, Wis., and Abby Cash, of Yates City, members of the horse judging and equestrian teams, who conducted mock judging exercises of horses and beef cattle, inviting club members to try their hand at placing the animals in order, then giving the results and explaining the reasons.
Officers of the Kewanee and Wethersfield FFA chapters were guests of the clubs, each giving a brief summary of their activities and accomplishments.

Looney, directing a comment to the youth in attendance, both FFA and BHE, said “You are the future of agriculture in our community.”