images from the land: a free concert

Compiled by Lynn Snyder | Photos by Pat Elsass

In Shelby County, agriculture is king and one of the community’s most valued assets. The families who operate the farms, and the community’s supporting businesses, exemplify the virtues that society holds in high regard: hard work, strong values and personal responsibility.

Photographer Pat Elsass has captured more than 6,000 images of Shelby County agriculture, focusing on seven farm families, all Farm Bureau members: Jason and Angie Frantom, Bob and Carol Kohler, Dave and Patty Mann, Tony and Joyce Bornhorst, Ted and Jane Bornhorst, Mike and Ola Schafer and Myron and Darcy Verdier. The images have been combined into a pictorial review and will be shown at two special concerts “Images from the Land” performed by the Sidney Civic Band. The concert also will pay tribute to 4-H and FFA programs.

The concert and imagery will give the audience a behind the scenes look at agriculture and the families that make their living from the land. As a combined effort of farm families, a professional photographer and musicians, the concert is designed to bring the dinner table back to its roots in pictures and music. The concert will follow the growing season from the awakening of the land in spring, to the harvest and then the resting of the land in the winter.

Joyce Peters, who coordinates promotion and education projects for the Shelby County Farm Bureau, has been a part of the planning practically since the project’s inception. She said the two-year endeavor is based on the Ag and the Arts project from Clark County (which was featured in the Sept./Oct. 2005 Our Ohio magazine). The Shelby County Farm Bureau is a financial sponsor of the project. Other sponsors include Gateway Arts Council, Shelby County Soil and Water Conservation District, Ohio State University Extension Shelby County and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency.

After the concert, a DVD will be created for use in classrooms, libraries and with service organizations. The DVD will include the images used in the concert and a lesson plan to raise questions, create discussion and establish factual information about agriculture. The project received a grant from the Ohio Farm Bureau Foundation to provide funding for the DVD.

“I just hope we have a big crowd that will learn more about agriculture,” Peters said. “We have a lot of people in the county who have no idea what goes on at the farm. We want farm people to see (the concert) too, to spread the news. It’s real exciting to me that this is a way we can spread the word about what it’s like on the farm.”

If You Go
• March 29 and 30
• 7 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday
• Sidney High School, 1215 Campbell Road, Sidney, Ohio 45365
• Concert is free. No tickets are required.
• Call the Gateway Arts Council in Sidney for more information, 937-498-ARTS

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