The Gagetown agricultural museum will mark three decades of Fall Family Days with historic farm demonstrations, a giant flea market, homemade food and a new corn maze Sept. 12-13.

GAGETOWN, Mich. — One of the Michigan Thumb’s largest celebrations of rural history reaches a milestone this weekend as the Thumb Octagon Barn hosts its 30th annual Fall Family Days.

The two-day event runs from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 12-13, at the Thumb Octagon Barn Agricultural Museum, 6948 Richie Road near Gagetown. The historic farm complex sits in Tuscola County, just south of the Huron County line.

Fall Family Days began in 1996 as a small, one-day program focused on early 20th-century farm life. It has since grown into a major regional event, drawing as many as 15,000 visitors in recent years.

This year’s anniversary program puts corn and the corn industry at the center of several activities. A new corn maze replaces the potato-picking activity offered during some previous festivals.

Historic farm equipment returns to work

Fall Family Days is built around working demonstrations rather than static museum displays.

Visitors can watch an operating apple cider mill, blacksmithing demonstrations, gas engines, and other equipment once common on Thumb farms. The grounds also include a sawmill, agricultural exhibits and a grain elevator. Live music is planned throughout the weekend.

The museum’s one-room schoolhouse will also be open for tours. A general store project under development will be available for visitors to walk through, although organizers expect the store to become fully operational next year.

Children’s activities include games, hands-on programs and barrel train rides.

Those demonstrations help explain why the event has lasted three decades. Instead of simply placing old machinery behind ropes, Fall Family Days shows how equipment was used and how rural families worked, ate and lived.

More than 250 flea market vendors expected

The flea market has become another major part of the weekend.

More than 250 vendors are expected to sell antiques, crafts, collectibles and farm-related items. Organizers added about 20 vendor spaces this year to accommodate demand.

Fall Family Days Chairman Martin Kubacki told the Huron Daily Tribune that visitors from outside the Thumb have commented on the market’s size. He has helped lead the event for nearly three decades.

Food is another longstanding part of the festival.

A farmer’s breakfast will be served from 8 to 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday by the Knights of Columbus in Caro. The menu includes eggs, ham, potatoes and toast. Other food planned during the weekend includes homemade fries, pretzels, pies, ice cream, apple cider and doughnuts, popcorn and bean soup.

A barn volunteers refused to lose

The anniversary also marks another chapter in the preservation effort that saved the Thumb Octagon Barn.

Local residents organized the Friends of the Thumb Octagon Barn during the 1990s when the historic complex faced an uncertain future. Volunteers first worked to prevent the barn’s demolition. They later restored the barn, Purdy home and surrounding property while building an agricultural museum around them.

The barn was originally part of the farm of James and Cora Purdy. Builders John and George Munro constructed the Purdy home and later the unusual barn, which James Purdy reportedly called his “Air Castle.” The museum now uses the property to teach visitors about farming and rural life in the Thumb.

That volunteer effort continues. The Friends organization says nearly 800 members now support the museum, while volunteers handle restoration, maintenance, programs and special events.

Fall Family Days has become the group’s largest public showcase.

What to know before going

Admission is $10 for visitors age 16 and older and $5 for children ages 6 to 15. Children 5 and younger are admitted free. Gates are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.

The Thumb Octagon Barn Agricultural Museum remains open for its regular 2026 season through Sept. 27. Regular hours are Thursday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.

More information is available from the Thumb Octagon Barn Agricultural Museum.

Thirty years after volunteers held the first Fall Family Days, the event remains centered on the same idea that saved the barn itself: keeping the Thumb’s agricultural past visible by putting it back to work.