From Field to Fork Event

Turn of the Century Farm Machinery in Action

See How Early Innovation and Technology Transformed Our Food Supply in America!

Costumed Re-enactorsWhere: Midway Village Museum, 6799 Guilford Road, Rockford, IL

Visit the Victorian Village and experience early Midwest farm life as costumed history interpreters and re-enactors show how technology changed how people lived, farmed and ate in the Rockford region from 1860 - 1920.

  • Discover how settlers to Northern Illinois sourced their food locally, emphasizing a direct connection between the production of crops and livestock on farms and its consumption on their plates.
  • Learn how they developed farming technologies to improve the efficiency of cash crops and to support the Rockford economy in the late 1800s.
  • See the traditional techniques and recipes that made their food fresher, more nutritious, and often tastier.
  • Find out how the development of Granges and Farmers' Alliances helped address the problems faced by farmers, and impacted local political life.

From Field to Fork will show you the details of pioneer self-sufficiency that gives rural life a special place, even today, in the minds of modern Americans.

What's included

In addition, your admission includes entry to our artifact-filled museum center, including to our exciting new, permanent exhibit, "You're in the Army Now: Camp Grant, Rockford's Legacy."

Junior Interpreter on Farm