The National Fall Festival of Singles in Agriculture will be hosted by the Missouri Chapter in St. Joseph, Mo. on Sept. 9-12, at the Ramada Inn Hotel and Convention Center. Join us for good food, special entertainment, and dancing to the Rowdy Boys. Tours planned that include the state of the art Remington Nature Center, the Patee House, the Pony Express Museum, the Historic Missouri Theater, and the Shatto Dairy.
Our keynote speaker is Andrew McCrea, a well known area farmer, radio personality, inspirational speaker, and author. There will be dinner and dancing both Friday and Saturday evenings. For more information contact Linda at 816-526-2003, Delores at 816-716-4627 or Marjorie at 660-879-4566.
Singles in Agriculture is a national organization soon to be celebrating its 25th year with roughly 400 members throughout the United States, and chapters in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa/Wisconsin, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Northern Great Plains (encompassing Minnesota, North and South Dakota), Ohio, Oklahoma, Rocky Mountain Region (Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming), and Texas. Members also come from Alabama, California, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont, and West Virginia.
Singles in Agriculture members have the opportunity to see new places, learn through informative tours and speakers who are expert in their fields, enjoy wonderful entertainment, and make friends of all ages that will last a lifetime! Our members are singles who have an agriculture background, an ag-related occupation or are actively farming or ranching, as well as those who just have an interest in agriculture. We offer friendship, fellowship, travel, and inexpensive events that allow us to mingle with other “country folk”. Our focus is on friendship, not dating, although we have many members who have found their special someone through this group, necessitating a sister group, Single No More. Singles in Agriculture was formed in the mid-1980s after a single farmer sent a letter to Farm Journal magazine expressing the difficulties of meeting single women interested in a rural lifestyle. His letter prompted Farm Journal staff writer Meg Gaige to pen several articles on the social lives of single farm people. In one of her columns, Gaige asked single readers to send in their name, address and a 50-word biography. The national magazine received more than 2,700 responses.
During the summer of 1985, these submissions were compiled, printed and mailed to all those responding. The magazine’s project sparked the interest of an Iowa woman and - due largely to her efforts - Singles in Agriculture became a national organization. By the summer of 1986, the project had generated so much interest that 23 people met in Peoria, Illinois to take the necessary steps to make SIA an official organization. Singles in Agriculture was chartered as a non-profit organization in October of that same year.
Our members are an eclectic group, numbering among us corporate executives, members of the world of academia, business professionals, farmers and ranchers and dairymen. We respect the values and ideals of those who provide the world with its food source, those who are just plain old “good” people.
SIA offers many events throughout the year on a local and national level. Each year there are three national events - the national convention, which is our business meeting and election of officers to the national board; the summer celebration, typically held in the middle of the summer; and the fall festival, usually in mid-September. In addition there are multi-state events for Christmas and New Year’s as well as local events sponsored through the various chapters.
Fun, fellowship, and friends are never far away when you become a member of this amazing group!
Our recent national convention was held March 11-14,2010 in Hutchinson, Kansas. Educational tours included the % mile long ADM elevator, the Kansas Cosmosphere, and the Underground Salt Museum. Members and guests came from Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and
Texas. Delicious meals were shared, along with great entertainment provided by a local high school show choir, and dancing late into the evening to a favorite band, the Rowdy Boys.
The Summer Celebration was held the weekend of July 15-18 in Casselton, North Dakota with members enjoying tours of the NDSU barns, greenhouses, and experimental gardens, an inside tour of the Oscar-Zero Missile underground bunker, and a walk through yesterday at Bonanzaville, along with great food, interesting speakers, and lots of dancing.
Upcoming major events include: National Fall Festival, Saint Joseph, Missouri, hosted by the Missouri Chapter,
Sept. 9-12; Chicken ‘N Bread Days, Bowie, Texas, hosted by the Texas Chapter, Oct. 1-3; Flint Hills, Kansas, Cottonwood, Kansas, hosted by the Kansas Chapter, Oct. 8-9; Homesteading Nebraska, Beatrice, Nebraska, hosted by the Nebraska Chapter, Oct. 16; Annual Thanksgiving Harvest Dinner and Dance, Harding, Illinois, hosted by the Illinois Chapter, Nov, 7; Oklahoma Party on the Prairie, Ponca City, Okla., hosted by the Oklahoma Chapter, Nov. 12-14; Multi-state Christmas Party, Peoria, Ill., hosted by the Illinois Chapter, Dec. 3-5; New Year’s on the Beach, South Padre, Tx., hosted by Texas Chapter, Dec. 30/31; Jan. 1, 2011 Tri-State New Year’s Weekend, Dyersville, Ia., hosted by the Iowa Chapter, Jan. 14-16, 2011; National Convention 2011, Amana Colonies, Ia, hosted by Iowa Chapter, March 10-13,2011.
Past events have included exploring the Texas Hill Country at Kerrville, Tx. touring a bourbon distillery, stud farms, race track, and the equine center in Lexington, Kentucky, and getting an up-close-and-personal view of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, to name just a few. We have gotten behind-the-scenes tours of the World Quarter Horse Show in Oklahoma City and ridden stock tanks down the Middle Loupe River in Nebraska, so you can see that we are a group not afraid to get out and try something new. Be sure to check our website at www.singlesinagriculture.org for events that may be near you as well as contact information on becoming a member, or contact any of the ladies listed above.