The second annual Field and Friends Work Hard, Play Hard event, held at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Washington on Saturday, Feb. 26, drew about 300 attendees who all gathered to celebrate a successful year for the Washington County Cattlemen and the Washington-Keokuk Counties Corn and Soybean Growers.

“We had a phenomenal event on Saturday night,” said Kerri Bell, Secretary of the Washington-Keokuk Counties Corn Soybean Growers. “We were so impressed. Donations came in stronger than last year, which that enables us to do activities all throughout the year.”

The Cattlemen and Corn and Soybean Growers are busy all year long with activities such as sponsoring scholarships to high school seniors, sponsoring Highland FFA, sponsoring the Kalona Days parade and fun run and participating in many other community events.

“There are a lot of members who have no idea what we do all year long and by coming [to Field and Friends], they see that. Our sponsors also see that, they see how their donations go toward all of those things,” said Bell. “For example, we increased our fair sponsorship to the Washington County Fair because we can through our financial situation, whereas several years ago, we wouldn’t have been able to. That’s in part due to those very generous sponsors.”

Above all, though, the Field and Friends event gives the agricultural community a chance to gather and celebrate all the hard work they’ve put in over the past year.

“We work all year long — whether it’s our sponsors, or whether it’s our members, our growers and our producers, we are working 365 days a year. A farmer never gets a day off,” Bell said. “We had some people who weren’t in attendance because they had cows that were calving. We want it to be a celebration, we are celebrating and networking with our people… We get to spend time together where we don’t have to work, where we’re just enjoying each other’s company and thanking everyone for the work that they’ve done in the past year and how they’ve helped us.”

Attendees were treated to a prime rib meal served by Jerry and Margie’s Catering of Riverside, as well as pies from Janet Stutsman of Wellman and Cathy Greiner of Keota. Bell said the meal was very well received, with the prime rib “spot on,” which garnered many compliments from attendees.

Bell said the Iowa Corn Growers Association president attended from Vinton, Iowa, as well as the Iowa Corn Growers Promotion Board president from Primghar, Iowa in O’Brien county.

“Going all year long with the planning and preparation of it, that day and that evening is the absolute highlight because we’ve worked hard to make it happen. We surpassed all our goals that we had set. We had more sponsors than we’ve had before, which is in part because they see how we work and how we promote and work together for the betterment of our community, our county, district, state and at the national level. It was exciting to see so many people from all across the state of Iowa.”