Minnesota townsfolk visit Hartford for 40th consecutive year

HARTFORD – The low temperature here this weekend is about the same as the high temperature usually is this time of year in his hometown, but the Wiregrass nonetheless feels like a home away from home for Bruce Cottington.

Cottington has been making the trek from his town of Litchfield, Minn., to Hartford for the last 40 years as part of Hartford-Litchfield Exchange Week, a program he developed that provides learning experiences for Future Farmers of America members.

This year, an extra 20 Litchfield residents are in town for the 40th anniversary of the program, a trip that will include a slot in the Peanut Festival Parade.

Cottington has seen a lot of changes in the area since his first trip.

“I remember Dothan was a much smaller community than it is today,” said Cottington, a dairy farmer and grocer. “Dothan has grown tremendously and has been developed into an area where it has grown to the point of having industry and other things.”

The genesis of the program came from a promotion Cottington thought up to trump his competitors in the early 19 70s.

“We started a promotion from our Super Value Store, of which I was an owner, where we needed something in February to meet competition, and we decided we would promote two products, peanut butter and milk,” he said.

After doing some research, Cottington contacted Paul Dean, who headed the Hartford FFA.

“I asked Paul Dean, and he was very reluctant to be involved, because he thought we were kind of off our rocker,” Cottington said. “I finally convinced him he should bring his wife, Alice, and Marge and Gilbert Outlaw, and I said we’ll take up all the expenses. That’s how it came to be.”

This weekend, Cottington, his son and granddaughter are staying at the home of Gene Brannon, a Hartford native who has also been involved in the program since its inception.

“When Bruce contacted Mr. Dean, Mr. Dean came to see me, as I was principal of Geneva County High School, about this program,” Brannon said. “He said he thought it’d be a good program. That’s how we got started, and I’ve been with it on and off ever since then.”

The agricultural world is a bit different in Litchfield than it is in Hartford.

“I’ve been up there three times,” Brannon said. “The last time we went up there, it ran from 25 below zero to 17 above, so that’s a little different from what we have down here. We are totally different in what we plant. They have a lot of dairies, and I know of two dairies we have.”

Despite those differences, the people are mostly the same in both towns.

“Basically folks are just the same fine, rural Americans,” Cottington said. “(The program) means to me that we have a wonderful, wonderful country because we have people like the folks in Alabama and Minnesota and folks all over the country. They are good American people, and we have different ways of doing business in agriculture, but in our hearts we’re all the same. We all love our country, and we always remember agriculture is a critical part of our country. You guys in Alabama are just as nice as anyone else, and you treat us royally.”

Brannon agreed.

“The people are good, down-to-earth people,” he said. “They have the same type hospitality we do down here. The chance to see how people survive in freezing cold weather has been a very big difference here as well.”

Cottington’s son, Jim, was 12 when he made his first trip to Hartford 40 years ago.

“Over the years to see it grow from a high school activity I was involved with where it was primarily students involved in putting together an FFA banquet and event, what’s impressed me is the multitude of people it’s impacted over the years,” Jim said. “Each year there’s a new group, a fresh crop of students that get introduced to the program.”

Ultimately, Cottington said, the program has served to further the cause of agricultural awareness.

“We promote small America, rural America, and we also promote good food, peanut butter and milk, and we also promote youth, which is the FFA,” he said. “They are the future leaders of our country.”

The exchange has created opportunities for three generations, and its founders hope that tradition continues.

“We’d like to get as many people involved as we can to keep this going, because it is a worthwhile program, especially for our high school students,” Brannon said. “There is another world outside the city limits of Hartford, and they need to be exposed to it.”