MANHATTAN, IL — Justin Young now lives in a home built in a field he remembers well, one where he once picked pumpkins as a boy in an area situated by a unique-looking wooden barn that everyone in town knew and that, in many ways, has come to become a beacon of familiarity for more than 100 years.
Young, a Manhattan Village trustee, refers to the 20-sided polygonal barn as being iconic — not only to residents who call the village home but also to people who have since left the community and still have lasting memories of a structure that has become the biggest landmark in Manhattan’s rural surroundings.
This weekend, the Manhattan Park District will host the second annual Round Barn Heritage Fest, a one-day event that not only celebrates Manhattan’s small-town charm, but also brings awareness to the village’s historical ties to a barn that remains one of the biggest of its kind of all in Illinois.
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The barn was built in 1898 by John C. Baker out of wood that was salvaged from the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago. Purchased from private owners by the Manhattan Park District in 2006, the barn remains a centerpiece of the community as village officials work to link the community’s past to its present and future.
That effort culminated with the creation of the Round Barn Heritage Fest last year, when the one-day community event was introduced. Now, as organizers not only look forward to Saturday’s event but to the future as they and Park District officials hope to grow the event and others like it to help raise funds to preserve the barn. The efforts are a way of continuing to celebrate the barn’s significance to the village’s identity.
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“With Manhattan being a rural community, Round Barn Farm has been a large part of this community and this region of Illinois since forever,” Jay Kelly, the executive director of Manhattan’s Park District told Patch on Monday. “So the idea of Heritage Fest was to develop an event that would be more geared around the heritage of the site in Manhattan, just to celebrate just that — the heritage of it all.”
Heritage Fest, which will run from 12-5 p.m., features a collection of family-friendly events and activities that not only gives the day an “event feel” but also pays homage to the era when the Round Barn was constructed. In addition to tours of the structure, organizers want to bring more historical interpretation into the festival itself.
Heritage Fest is one of only a few times a year when the barn is open to the public and offers old-time carnival games along with 1890s-era wool-spinning demonstrations along with a broom-making demonstration that celebrates the time period when Manhattan’s iconic landmark was built.
A full schedule of events includes a 5K race and fun run, along with a craft show put on by the Chamber of Commerce, and is available at the village’s website. The event will also include a lemonade fundraiser which will assist a Manhattan family whose 3-year-old son is battling leukemia, organizers announced.
To organizers, having a community festival to celebrate the Baker-Koren Round Barn property, which spans 87 acres, not only showcases the site but also helps present-day residents to take a look back at the community’s past.
Since joining the Park District five years ago, Kelly says there has been more of a concerted effort to bring the barn more into the public eye. He said that officials continue to discover new mechanisms to restore the barn, which was originally part of Five Mile Grove – the first European settlement in what is now modern-day Manhattan.
The previous owners hosted events there, but since purchasing the property in 2006, park district officials have expanded that reach even more. The property now includes a disc golf course, sand volleyball courts, and walking paths to allow residents to enjoy the venue. The village now uses Heritage Fest to make the Round Barn more accessible to residents and visitors alike as a way of bringing Manhattan’s past into a clearer view.
The Round Barn also carries a multi-generational appeal to Manhattan residents who now have children, as well as children who have come to appreciate the significance of the structure, Kelly said. It’s now up to the park district, he said, to take advantage of the popularity of the barn in ways that its multiple uses can be turned into a revenue source for the park district as it looks to maintain the barn’s integrity.
Heritage Fest organizers hope the annual event that celebrates the venue plays a role in preserving the site.
“(The Round Barn) is essentially a landmark in Manhattan because of its unique nature, and it allows us to remember our past and bring it into our future,” said Evan Vogt, who is in his first year of organizing Heritage Fest.
For Young, the village trustee who maintains special childhood memories of the farm property, watching a new town tradition develop while celebrating the Round Barn has been meaningful. He said many residents like himself remember visiting the farm to pick pumpkins and participate in other activities.
But he said that the structure that is known for its unique look and historical ties to the village’s past also gives Manhattan something to build around – not only now, but for generations to come.
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“I think that’s what (organizers) are going for – to just embrace the country, farm life community out here,” Young said.
“I think if you’re from here, (the Round Barn) is a benchmark — it’s, ‘I live by the Round Barn’ or ‘Take a left by the Round Barn Farm’. It’s iconic. If you grew up here, you picked pumpkins there ….and I think as a kid, you knew (the barn) was one of the things we were known for, it’s part of the reason people came to town. It’s a beacon …and in many ways, it really does resemble what Manhattan is – a farming community that has grown, but we’re still a small farming community.”
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