BARN TOUR TO LOOK AT RURAL LIFE IN 19TH CENTURY

ANNA-JONESBORO, Ill. -- Tony Calabrese organized the first Barnstorming Union County bus tour last fall after reading in the New York Times that 1,000 barns had been torn down the year before in Iowa alone.

"I thought, there's got to be some way to protect these barns," said Calabrese, who is both the Union County Chamber of Commerce president and owner of a bed and breakfast with a barn.

A former educator, his initial response was to show people some of the barns that represent a way of life that almost has disappeared.

The first one-day tour of barns was so successful that an expanded version will be offered May 26-28.

The tour is organized around the work and social rhythms of late 19th century farm: A Friday night visit to town, Saturday work demonstrations and Sunday social experiences. Included are an exhibit of barn art and talks about barns and rural life, a daylong tour of barns that may include a chance to see lambs being born, and an opportunity to join in the Campground Church's 150th anniversary celebration.

The May 26 art show and lectures by SIU professors Jane Adams and Robert Swenson will be held at the recently opened Anna Union Art Gallery. Adams has written a book about rural America, and Swenson is an expert in barn architecture.

May 27 will offer opportunities to see how the area's rural ancestors lived as the tour travels to six different barns throughout the county, some inaccessible except by hay wagon.

Those on the tour will see hay harvested manually, a community construction project billed as a "hammer-in," and the timing may be right to see lambs being born at the Walton farm, Calabrese said.

"That's better than Hollywood if it happens," he said.

One stop will be Calabrese's barn where three blacksmiths will be working all day.

Lunch will be at Fragrant Fields in Dongola, a restaurant set in an 1890s barn. The day will end at the Heisner barn with a chuck wagon supper and barn dance.

"We decided, let's make it a visit to town the farmer used to have," Calabrese said.

On May 28, the tour will resume with a farm breakfast followed by a celebration of the Campground Church's 150th anniversary.

At Clyde L. Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center, tour participants will see artwork created by some of the residents. The hospital's barn dates to the Civil War. Lunch will be served at historic St. John's Church near Dongola.

Full weekend tour packages are available as well as tickets for some individual events.

A percentage of the proceeds from the tour will be used to write a grant to help preserve the barns, Calabrese said.

Barn Tour Activities

Friday, May 26 ($5)

Opening reception will present winners of a juried barn landscape art exhibit, art show and talks by SIU anthropology professor Jane Adams and SIU architecture professor Robert Swenson at Anna Union Art Gallery.

Saturday, May 27 ($48 includes lunch)

Demonstrations of manual hay harvesting, a community hammer-in, a lambing session and a hay ride to barns otherwise inaccessible to modern traffic. Wine tasting and hors d'oeurves at two wineries precede Chuck Wagon Supper and Barn Dance. Chuck Wagon Supper $15.

Sunday, May 28 ($48 includes breakfast)

Family-style breakfast at a rural farmhouse followed by 150th anniversary celebration at the Campground Church. Visit to Choate Hospital and then traditional box lunch at St. John's Church near Dongola.

Phone (618) 833-6311 or e-mail plcuccc@midwest.net for information or reservations. Reservations close Saturday.