BROKEN BOW – The Sandhills Journey National Scenic Byway’s famous Red Barn opened a month early today, and KCNI/KBBN was the first official visitor of the expanded 2023 tourism season, getting the lay of the land two minutes before the opening, at 9:58 a.m.
Although the barn has seen its volunteer numbers swell to over 30 for its debut as a Nebraska Passport destination, Rick Maas, head volunteer, says that the work to prepare the center for the season has remained the same, if not increased.
“Taking care of everything outside, especially with the wind, has been a bear.”
Maas hasn’t just been grappling with the wind outdoors; he says the doors themselves have been bullied as well.
“The wind actually caught our door a couple days ago and broke one bracket and bent another. The wind blew the door wide open and the glass hit the corner of the flower planter.”
Fortunately for Maas and the Red Barn, the glass didn’t shatter, giving him time to shape up the center’s outdoor spaces, which includes, forgive the pun, everything under the sun.
Maas deals with the landscaping, care of the pond and lawn, has plans in the works to construct a sod house near the barn, if the rain behaves, and at the start of every tourism season, flipping on the barn’s ‘Open’ sign: its windmill.
In addition to its function as a neon substitute, the windmill also performs the function it was designed for; it is connected to the Ogallala Aquifer through a 170-foot well. The mill draws up water and feeds the pond that sits just outside the barn.
While Maas is preparing the grounds for what should be one of the Red Barn’s busiest summers in recent memory, the center’s second floor is in the care of Deb Bryner, who on opening morning was putting the final piece in place for her quilt guild’s display.
Eleven quilts, now counting the newly folded and draped Sunbonnet Sue in the attic’s corner, unfurl from rods, stands, and rafters; this year, Bryner says, the 60-member Custer’s Last Stitch Quilt Guild opted for a theme that would step away from the standard panel quilts.
“Every year we put up an old display of quilts, antique quilts. All of these are owned by different people; this year our theme is appliqué, so all of these quilts have appliqué.”
This year’s appliqué quilts run a wide range of colors, images, and age; one of the oldest could well be over a century old.
Additionally, the Red Barn will be providing information about and from all corners of the Sandhills Byway throughout the summer; the Byway itself runs from Grand Island to Alliance, and its volunteers from all along its route. With its appearance on this summer’s Nebraska Passport, the Red Barn in Broken Bow will now be open 7 days a week, even holidays, all the way into September.
