Vigo County artisans part of Pioneer Village fabric

By Susan Hayhurst

INDIANAPOLIS — As you walk into the Pioneer Village red pole barn on the north side of the Indiana State Fair campus, myriad sounds greet your ears. The clinking of glasses and clatter of silverware resonate from the threshers’ kitchen as the noonday meal is set out. Foot-stomping, fiddle-strumming music from the bluegrass band filters from the entertainment area at the back of the rustic barn. And there, in the midst of the convivial chaos, sit three Vigo County men, each demonstrating his own craft while good-naturedly reliving the days of a bygone era.

The senior “Possum Holler” (the fictitious town’s name) wood craftsman is Keith Ruble, superintendent of the Vigo County Parks and Recreation Department. For nearly 40 years, Ruble has dedicated most of his annual vacation to sharing his craft with the thousands of visitors who stop by the Pioneer Village during the fair. His worn, straight-back chair and accompanying cushion provide him the perch to make his well-known wooden buckets and hand-hewn bowls, frequent purchases of fairgoers.

Ruble taught himself to hew logs by hand, reconstruct log cabins and split rails while working for the parks department. His woodworking ability caught the attention of then-Vigo County Purdue Extension agent Max Miller, a Pioneer Village volunteer, who asked Ruble in 1976 to help build a log cabin in the village’s barn. “When Max asked if I would help build the cabin, he told me, ‘You’re doing this for the people of Indiana.’ He got me off work to help, since I didn’t have the vacation. We used a pair of mules to pull the logs into the building and hewed them on the spot. It took three consecutive fairs to finish the cabin.”

The village organizers knew they had a valuable volunteer in Ruble and in 1980 asked him to build a section of a pin-frame barn in the rear of the barn that houses the musical performance area. During his building days at the state fair, Ruble met the late Bill Day, a master bowl hewer from West Lebanon, who taught Ruble his bowl-carving skills.

Ruble, who wears period dress like his village peers, uses tools custom-made by blacksmiths for his Indiana hardwood wares. His Indiana-shaped bowls are a bestseller, though he’s made bowls of several other states’ shapes. “Eight out of 10 bowls I make are Indiana bowls, with some even having maple syrup tap stains as a result of the trees we’ve tapped in the county parks during Maple Syrup Days,” Ruble said.

Wood carving and participating in such events as the state fair’s Pioneer Village are valuable hobbies in today’s hurried society, Ruble said. “People today are not giving their children and grandchildren the opportunity to have a hobby. Academics has its place, but children need to learn how to slow down, relax and enjoy what’s available around them, instead of focusing on computers, TV and video games.”

Ruble’s commitment to the state fair earned him Indiana State Fair Master recognition in 2001. The award is given to those exhibiting their talents, volunteerism and care of the state fair by Traditional Arts Indiana, the Indiana Arts Commission and the state fair.

With piles of wood curls surrounding his feet and a stump as his work table, Ruble said he offers his time and gift because he enjoys the people. “Like the people I’m working with, I have a country background and enjoy meeting all who come through. Our day starts at 5:30 a.m., we’re all fed well, and we have a great time. And we’re always joking around, so you never want to be a rookie in here.”

Another wood carver, West Terre Haute resident Blaine Berry, lived through his rookie days in Possum Holler and now is considered an experienced citizen. “When someone passes away that’s been in Pioneer Village a long time, another is found to fill their spot,” said Berry. “About four years ago, when Bill Day died, Keith took his spot and I took Keith’s. Keith got me going on traditional woodworking in 1984, though I did machine woodworking earlier and was raised by a carpenter.”

Berry’s love of woodworking has taken him to several carving schools throughout the country, but he settled on creating Windsor chairs. Though he makes other things like bowls, benches and trunks, and even a few wood hats, he now teaches chair making and has had more than 50 students. “Most of my chairs are from Indiana hardwoods. Because of the fair’s 2008 theme of Indiana trees, I made a chair of 24 types of wood. I liked it so much, I kept it.”

A retired arborist, he recently finished his most elaborate piece, a Cherry Windsor triple settee ordered during the state fair in 2008. “If the order is in the Windsor field, I generally do it,” Berry said.

While demonstrating his craft at the state fair is a large time commitment, Berry says it’s his vacation. “You know a vacation is a change of pace. Helping at Pioneer Village is my vacation. I want people to know they can do something like woodcarving.”

Another craftsman enjoying the amiable days of the village is Dave Pigg, a pencil artist who depicts rural life and antique farm equipment through his drawings. Born and raised around his grandfather’s farm in Prairieton Township, Pigg’s early memories continue to provide great subjects for his drawings. “I like to capture memories of tractors and bygone scenes in rural art. The rural atmosphere is not art-oriented, so I strive to promote rural art with touches of chicken coops, weathered barns, farmhouses, worn-out tractors, or whatever rural element catches my eye,” Pigg said.

Pigg, an employee at TRW in Marshall, Ill., also uses his vacation time to participate at the Indiana State Fair. He sets up his drawing instruments and tables in a corner of the village’s barn. Boxes of framed and unframed prints along with packages of note cards line his table and primitive hutch, beckoning passers-by to browse and buy. He often has folks stop to discuss a particular element in a drawing or remark they grew up with a similar tractor.

All three craftsmen take commissioned orders and welcome questions.

Berry sums up their philosophy: “I enjoy sharing the old time ways, the festival atmosphere and catching people at their best. Who knows, with the way things are going, maybe we’ll be doing things this way again very soon,” he said.

Susan Hayhurst, a freelance writer and farm wife from Vigo County, has written several features for the Tribune-Star on Wabash Valley residents involved in activities at the 2009 Indiana State Fair, which concludes today. Hayhurst is a member of the Indiana State Fair Commission.

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