BALTIC, S.D. (KELO) — Yesterday we brought you thestory of a community coming togetherto help a family farm near Worthington.

In this week’s Flashback Friday, we take you back to 1985 with KELOLAND’S Perry Groten and show you how neighbors came together to help a Baltic farmer.

Things were getting a little crowded in this field near Baltic. Elbow to elbow combines at the Eldrid Manson farm. Last month Manson underwent open heart surgery, and remains hospitalized in Sioux Falls. His illness could not have come at a worse time. 45 acres of his corn still needed to be harvested before winter weather set in. That’s when several neighbors and friends came to the rescue.

“Well, they all knew the Eldrid was sick, and there wasn’t anything we could do about that, but I think just helping him getting his crop out would probably be as good of medicine as we could prescribe for him.”

Two dozen volunteers organized the old-fashioned corn-picking bee to help out the Manson family, and they came well equipped. Six combines, five trucks, and three wagons did the job in a matter of just a few hours.

“I don’t know how we’d get our corn out otherwise. It’s kind of tough, cause it’s just my son and I.”

“It’s always been that way in rural areas. They’re all kind of, you know, lean on each other. The next time, maybe, it’s the other way around.”

Like any properly conducted corn-picking bee, a big meal awaited the volunteers in reward for a hard day’s work. Perry Groten, KELOLAND News, Baltic.