INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — The Indiana Barn Foundation (IBF) welcomes everyone to attend its fourth Annual Meeting on July 22 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. The foundation will also host a bus tour of barns in Hancock and Madison counties, this Friday; the tour may already be sold out.

Nationally recognized timber framer Rudy Christian will present “Repairing Historic Barn Frames.” On July 21, he and other experts will attend the bus tour and act as “barn detectives” to give their insights on six historic barns throughout Hancock and Madison counties.

The tour will feature Indiana’s largest round barn, the Littleton-Kingen barn, and a 10-sided barn dating back to 1914.

IBF’s meeting will take place at the Normandy Barn on the fairgrounds in Indianapolis. Barn fanatics of all ages are welcome to come celebrate Indiana’s historic structures, and raise awareness about their destruction.

Christian, founding member and past president of the Timber Framers Guild, will be the chief speaker. He has consulted numerous groups on historic preservation projects all over the world, while winning awards for his work.

Purdue University’s R. Douglas Hurt, who authored the book American Agriculture, and Ball State University’s Chris Baas, an expert on hay press barns, will also speak during the event.

Saturday’s highlight will be a discussion panel entitled “Old Barns – New Ventures.” Barn owners who have repurposed their barns will talk about their projects; this discussion is meant to help Hoosiers learn how to repurpose their own barns from those who have already done so.

 

The annual meeting is being held in dedication to Purdue’s Mauri Williamson, founding IBF board member and lifetime friend to Indiana agriculture, who passed  away in January 2017. The IBF is a nonprofitorganization formed in 2013 to help barn owners and others save the historic buildings. “Indiana still has more barns per acre than all but five other states,” said founding IBF President Carolyn Rahe.

 

“While we’re blessed that so manybarns still dot our Hoosier landscape, they are quickly disappearing. IBF has been instrumental in the sparking interest in saving barns, and provides resources and networking opportunities tobarn owners across the state.”

The IBF stated, “This year’s Annual Meeting and Bus Barn Tour is open to everyone and will be the best day of the year for anything barn-related and a unique opportunity to connect and network.”

Online sales appear to have ended for the barn tour, but tickets for Saturday’s meeting are $45 and sales end July 20. To learn more, email Rahe at info@indianabarns.org or to buy a ticket, visit www.indianabarns.org/events