Harrigans' Barn has taken on a BIG project. Very cool circumstances have brought us to the point of volunteering to coordinate the preservation efforts for the 4 remaining 1936 Works Progress Administration (WPA) buildings on the Crawford County Fairgrounds. These remaining buildings are treasures. My family and I agreed that they deserved to be given new life and we will work hard to realize that goal. With the full cooperation and encouragement by the Crawford County Fair Board, we began to assemble our "team". The tasks required to do this project are beyond my scope and we absolutely need the help. We reached out to SEK CTEC (Career and Technical Education) located in Pittsburg and associated with Fort Scott Community College. This program gives area high school students experience in trades and they will be creating an educational opportunity for their students by working on these buildings! Specifically, they will be doing masonry and construction and their help and support will be invaluable. With these two primary components on board, we reached out to affected 4-H groups, Poultry and Rabbit project kids and families and the 4-H Council to bring them fully into the conversation. Open to the possibilities and enthused at the prospect, we have received several very good suggestions on how to make this project a success and we will incorporate all of these ideas into the planning.
There are four remaining buildings, the Commercial Building, the Rabbit & Poultry Barn, the Open Class Building, and the 4-H Building. This is a multi-year project, with the Commercial bldg in 2022, the Bunny Barn in 2023, the Open Class bldg in 2024 and the 4-H Bldg in 2025. Because we are coordinating things, we do not want to get "ahead of our skis" as my brother, John, would say so we are going slow and steady. So far in the Commercial Building we have power washed and painted the interior, hung vintage Fair signs on the inside, repaired and opened the 5 unique original windows on the south side of the building and polished it up to make it habitable for the County Fair Market Days that we held during the fair. To showcase this amazing architectural gem, we will host the Community Feast inside the building on October 8th. Since then, we have power washed the exterior, starting the priming and painting on the outside and power washed the rock foundation, beginning the process of removing the white overspray that was done many years ago during a painting job. Progress made, and much to do!!
How can you be involved? We have received our first major commercial donation and have received word of our first memorial donation for the Rabbit/Poultry project. The Fair Board has been very generous, but obviously more money is needed. We are thrifty people, and we are not afraid to pick to find wood or vintage hardware. I want this to be a grass roots efforts, funded by Crawford County folks, 4-H folks, preservation folks, but I will look for grants and apply so that some of the weight is taken from my community. I have had offers for volunteer labor. So far, we have spread things out so we can accomplish slowly and deliberately. If you want to help with cleaning, organizing, power washing, swinging a hammer, building stuff, painting with a sprayer, shoveling gravel, grinding on concrete...please let me know. You can respond here or send me a direct message on Facebook. My phone number is 620-724-0472. My email is sthomappr@hotmail.com. We have a Facebook page Friends of Restore the Four, the project name. I will post updates on that page and my personal page so all interested can stay up to date on progress and pleas. Please reach out with questions, suggestions, offers to help, willingness to donate. We are not quite there yet for labor but will be in the coming weeks. Again, this is a multi-year project and any helpers, in whatever way you want to help, will be welcome and appreciated!
Sorry for the novel, but the story needed to be told in detail, not piecemeal, so my friends and my community will know what it is that we are trying to do. Wish us luck, say a prayer for all of us, and know that we will be the best we can to Restore the Four!
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