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BARN AGAIN! ® SMITHSONIAN EXHIBIT & FARM FEST 2003
Kewaunee, Wis.
March 6, 2003
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Leaders of the locally-based non-profit organization, Agricultural
Heritage & Resources (AHR), today announced plans for
Farm Fest 2003, an eight-week series of events that coincide
with their hosting of the traveling Smithsonian exhibit, "Barn
Again! ®: Celebrating An American Icon", this coming
June and July. Jerry Sinkula, executive director, and Mary
Hanrahan, president of the board of directors, said both Farm
Fest and the exhibit, gained through a grant from the Wisconsin
Humanities Council, will be held at Heritage Farm, located
five miles south of Kewaunee on Hwy. 42.
Admissions to the Smithsonian exhibit will be free a stipulation
that comes with the national taxpayer-supported Institute's
special exhibit. Those who want to attend and participate
in all other Farm Fest activities will be asked to pay $2
for admission per person each day, with additional fees for
select performances.
Sinkula said Farm Fest activities will include nearly forty
musical performances; a dozen displays relating to farming;
tours to area dairy farms leaving from the Farm Fest site;
a reunion for those who attended any of Kewaunee County's
fifty-six one-room schools as well as those in Manitowoc,
Door and Brown counties; five exhibits celebrating local heritage
and ethnic traditions; children's theater; dance you watch;
dancing you do; strolling performers; demonstrations; activity
booths; stump speakers; wagon rides - and lots of great foods.
"We've planned eight weeks of celebrating with learning
experiences and a lot of fun," said Sinkula. "Our
activities, music and foods will be based on the rural traditions
of Northeastern Wisconsin, especially those passed on to us
from the ethnic immigrant groups who settled in Kewaunee County
and other parts of our region in the second half of the 19th
century."
The undertaking of Farm Fest will showcase the uniqueness
of Kewaunee County, said Sinkula, and is expected to draw
30,000 people or more. He acknowledges it is ambitious, but
said his 300+ member group is ready to handle an audience
that he knows will appreciate the activities AHR is planning.
"We have a lot of support already," added Sinkula.
AHR was selected as one of six sites in Wisconsin to host
the Barn Again! ® exhibit by the Wisconsin Humanities
Council and awarded the prime months of June and July. The
Wisconsin Humanities Council has also awarded AHR two other
grants. One will cover initial expenses for the storytelling
programs and the second covers about one-third of the cost
of the five exhibits being prepared locally by about 30 volunteers.
Grants are sought to cover the remaining expenses and sponsorships
are offered for various activities and shows at Farm Fest.
"We were also thrilled to receive 100 percent funding
of our application for a Joint Effort Marketing (J.E.M.) grant
for Farm Fest promotion," said Sinkula. The J.E.M. program
has been a resource awarded by the Wisconsin Department of
Tourism for select organizers of events that are expected
to provide economic impact through visitor expenditures. The
estimated impact of Farm Fest 2003 projected to come from
overnight visitors to the County is $1 million with a potential
total of $2 million, 180 thousand through expenditures by
both day visitors and overnight guests, including expenditures
at area restaurants, stores, gas stations, etc.
A financial gift was recently presented by Baylake Bank to
assist in construction of a building that will be used for
several activities of Farm Fest. The Baylake Bank Heritage
Center, as an important resource for many of our organization's
hopes and dreams for the future, including Farm Fest, and
also as a great asset for the surrounding community. Now,
it's a resource for the county to benefit from economically
as well."
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CONTACTS:
Brenda Krainik
Marketing Director
Phone: 920/405-1176
E-mail
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