A painted piece of plywood hanging on an Abrams barn and the people who put it there will gain national attention this fall.
The 15th quilt of the Barn Quilts of Oconto County project, hung at 2612 Cross Road, Abrams, will be featured in Country magazine’s October/November issue. The Greendale-based magazine claims about 750,000 subscribers across North America.
Editor Robin Hoffman, in an email to the Times Herald, said the magazine’s staff takes a field trip once a year to help with a local community project. Last year staff members cut brush on a river cleanup day, and in 2012 split staves, laid stone and pulled weeds at an historic German-style barn/house near Sheboygan.
“Our goal is to help our readers enjoy a simpler, more rewarding life close to nature, family and community. So when art director Scott Schiller found the barn quilt project online, we jumped at the chance to do a little taping and painting while we learned about the program,” he wrote.
The barn quilt project was launched in April 2013 by Kay Rankel, director of the Gillett Public Library, and Lynn Jones, production staff member of New View Industries. Clients of New View, a vocational training facility for people with disabilities, help to paint the barn quilts that are hung on barns and buildings in the county.
According to Hoffman, the visit to Oconto County on June 23 resulted in an even more interesting and inspiring story than they had hoped.
“Local support for New View and the barn quilt program shows the amazing things a rural community can accomplish when creative, dedicated people set their minds to it,” he said.
The staff learned about the entire process of barn quilt making, from painting the blocks at New View Industries to the installation on the barn by volunteers from Oconto Electric Cooperative. Rankel said the Country staff was especially interested in the collaboration with clients of New View Industries.
Accompanying Hoffman and Schiller on the trip were John Burlingham, senior editor, and Joanne Weintraub, copy editor.
The barn quilt was installed at the Konitzer farm in Abrams. The farm was purchased by John “Farmer John” and Carol “Cookie” Konitzer in 1972. The Konitzers purchased the farm from the Delzer family in order to gain more cropland for the dairy operation the Konitzers ran about three miles away, on County D.
John Konitzer passed away in 2011, but Cookie Konitzer said he was with them in spirit on June 23, as the first panels of the quilt were installed and a bird soared above them.
“There was this big bird that kept circling and circling the barn and just floating. We all thought John was watching, John approves. He was there,” she said. “It was beautiful.”
The quilt’s pattern is Gentleman’s Fancy, a pattern Konitzer choose to honor her husband.
“I wanted to somehow remember John, and he was a gentleman, I tell you,” she said.
The center square of the block was painted his favorite color, blue. The clean lines of triangles in red, white and blue complete the pattern, combining for a patriotic and striking design.
“It’s like putting a jewel on that barn, you know, like finishing it off,” Konitzer said.
The back of the barn quilt tells a different story. Those gathered for the quilt hanging wrote messages and autographed the white side of the two, 4- by 8-foot sheets of exterior-grade plywood used for the quilt.
“It’s kind of like a time capsule,” Konitzer said.
She wrote about the April 27, 1972, purchase of the farm, when she and John paid $40,000 for 103 acres.
Konitzer said her family enjoyed many picnics at the farm, and over the years, young couples rented the farm home and started their families. The barn is now used for storage.
About 50 family members of the Konitzer and Delzer families visited the farm June 23 to watch the installation. The clients from New View Industries who painted the barn quilt block also attended.
Art Delzer and his brother, Irvin, now in their 90s, shared their memories of the barn with the staff of Country, telling how they helped their father, Julius, and professional builders construct the barn around 1942, using wood salvaged from the Oconto River.
The barn is believed to be the tallest in Oconto County. Oconto Electric Cooperative linemen Ron Friedman and John Havemeier measured the barn while in their bucket truck installing the quilt. The barn measured 50 feet tall. Average height is 40 to45 feet, according to a local historian.
“We just wanted to preserve it. The barn is in such good shape,” Konitzer said.
She said she’d like others to get involved in the barn quilt project.
“I’m hoping some of the neighbors will do the same,” Konitzer said. “I think that would look pretty nice. There’s quite a few nice barns around the area.”
Rankel said the barn quilt project has gained a lot of attention, both from county residents and from outsiders.
“It’s really gaining a lot of momentum, which is real exciting,” she said.
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