Several years ago a local newspaper featured a photo of a barn shadowed in the light of the setting sun. The caption read, "Nothing is more beautiful than seeing the sunset behind a McHenry County barn." The thought that such a scene in this once prominent Illinois dairy farming county may soon end up as this generation’s memory is giving impetus to a new program.

It is a public art related project that may be the answer for barn appreciation, preservation, and agri-tourism. It combines the tradition and beauty of quilt designing with the long lasting durability of American barns and their adaptability as showcases for public art. Following the lead of states like Iowa and Ohio, McHenry County, Illinois is preparing to set the stage for a similar "Quilted Barn" program in this state.

Basically the program would involve selecting a quilt pattern, painting it onto two 4 x 8 foot plywood sheets, thus making an 8 x 8 foot quilt painting surface which will then be attached to a barn close enough to a road to be seen from either direction. Information about the quilt patterns , be it "Log Cabin" "Grandma’s Flower Basket," "Flying Geese," etc., the barn, the sponsors and/or artists will become part of one or more self-driving or biking tourist brochures. One county in Iowa already has 48 quilted barns while in Ohio half of the 88 counties have them.

We have the opportunity to do likewise. Our barns are located in close proximity to each other. They are diverse historic structures that will be enhanced by the use of art and quilt designs. Public art in and of itself can be shared by everyone. The program opens up agri-tourism opportunities and quilted barns reconnect all areas of McHenry County to their common origins.

For information on ways to participate in the Quilted Barns program please contact Andrea Lily at andrea_lily@comcast.net. Andrea works with the public art subcommittee of the McHenry County Board.

To see the Quilt Barn project of the Greenfield Historical Society of Greenfield, Ohio click on this link www.greenfieldhistoricalsociety.org and then click on "Quilt Barns" on their web site.  The photo at the top of the page is from their site.