Shawano County barn quilt project comes to an end

With the addition of Shawano County’s 413th barn quilt April 17, the barn quilt project started by local photographer Jim Leuenberger in June 2010 has come to an end.

“People will still be able to enjoy the nearly 400 quilts that remain on display throughout the county,” Leuenberger said. “We just aren’t going to be painting new ones.”

Leuenberger said that when he decided to start a barn quilt project for Shawano County he had no idea how it would be supported.

“I knew Shawano County had always been a strong dairy county with hundreds of barns still existing on farms throughout the county,” he said. “And even though most of them don’t have cows in them anymore, many owners have maintained them and use them for storage.”

Leuenberger said the support the project received from barn owners, local businesses and individuals was amazing.

“When I asked someone if they would like a barn quilt, practically no one turned me down,” he said. “The same was true with potential sponsors.”

Leuenberger and his wife, Irene, painted most of the quilts in the basement of the Shawano Country Chamber of Commerce building. A dozen or so were painted by local 4-H clubs.

Leuenberger estimates he used more than 40,000 feet of painters tape to lay out the patterns, more than 300 gallons of primer and more than 250 quarts of different colors of paint to produce the quilts.

All the quilts were painted on two 4-feet by 8-feet sheets of 3/4-inch plywood that, when mounted on a barn, made an 8-foot-square quilt block. All but three of the quilts were put on display by employees of Raddant Electric in Shawano.

The 413th barn quilt was designed by Lucas Hartwig, son of Dan and Diane Hartwig, and was sponsored by Twig’s Beverage in Shawano. He, along with Leuenberger, painted the quilt.

The quilt block has been named Sun Drop Country and is on display on a barn at W7041 County Road B in Shawano, which Dan and Diane Hartwig purchased from Mike Zingler in spring 2025. The quilt was put on display by LeRoy and Carter Raddant of Raddant Electric of Shawano.

Edward Zingler moved to Shawano from Pomeren, Germany, in 1845 and purchased the original 120 acres. The farm was eventually owned by Leland Zingler and his wife, Isla, who had three children, Vickie, Donna and Mike.

The original farmhouse remains across County Road B, where the children were raised. Leland and Isla Zingler had a dairy herd of 28 Holstein cows, along with beef cattle, hogs and chickens. Leland Zingler died at the age of 90 and when his widow died last year at the age of 95, the children decided to sell the 20 acres that remained, along with the farm buildings.