The Shawano County Barn Quilt Project was envisioned as a maximum of 25 quilt pieces to help celebrate the county’s rich dairy history.
That number has increased 12-fold, as the 300th barn quilt in the project was installed Wednesday at the Chuck and Mary Lou Kugel farm in the town of Waukechon. The quilt is called Patchwork Stars, with three different star patterns mixed in with earth tones.
“This is awesome, just awesome,” Mary Lou Kugel said after Raddant Electric installed the quilt on the barn before a crowd of almost 30. “I love the view of this quilt.”
The Kugels have helped contribute to the barn quilt project in a number of ways; Mary Lou more so than Chuck, the husband admitted.
“When Mary Lou came to me five years ago and said a barn quilt, I said, ‘Well, why would anyone ever want to do something like that?’” Chuck Kugel said. “There are an awful lot of barns that are falling apart, but people are putting them up on some of these old barns and are maintaining them now. There will be 300 barns in Shawano County that will be maintained for years and years to come because of that quilt. I think it’s a neat idea.”
Mary Lou Kugel works with the Waukechon Wildcats 4-H, which put up two quilts, and has sponsored two personally, along with helping with a quilt for the county’s dairy promotions program.
“The first time I painted one and saw how it all came together, it’s kind of addicting to see all those colors come together and meld to make this beautiful picture,” Mary Lou Kugel said. “I spent hours and hours looking for a pattern.”
The local quilt project has been spearheaded by Shawano photographer Jim Leuenberger, who initially designated a select few barns in 2010 for potential quilts, which are made of plywood and painted with various quilt patterns. However, the popularity spread like wildfire.
“The whole community has supported this project from the very beginning,” Leuenberger said. “I never would have imagined there would be so many.”
Leuenberger and his wife, Irene, have spent “thousands of hours” painting the quilts, getting the materials to craft them, arrange to have them installed, and spread the word via the media about the individual quilts and the farms that host them.
“There’s a lot more involved than just putting up a quilt,” Leuenberger said.
As a result, the local barn quilt program has gained immense popularity. Shawano County has been designated the unofficial barn quilt capital of Wisconsin, bus tours regularly come through the area specifically to showcase the barn quilts, and an annual fall bike ride started in 2013 with routes designed to showcase a number of quilts.
The barn quilts have helped to boost local tourism, according to Patti Peterson, tourism manager for the Shawano Country Chamber of Commerce.
“We had no idea it would ever get to this point, but we’re certainly happy it did,” Peterson said. “It has brought a great amount of attention to our area. It attracts visitors, but residents enjoy them as well. We have gotten attention from all over the state — and the country, for that matter.”
The chamber hopes to continue promoting the barn quilts as a tourism draw. Peterson said that some fall color tours involving the barn quilts are in the works.
Besides showing off pretty quilt patterns, the project has helped breathe new life into the county’s rich farming heritage, Leuenberger said. Part of the project includes chronicling the history of the farm where each quilt dwells.
“It’s really a nice history of Shawano County when you think about it,” Leuenberger said. “There are 300 farms that we now know a little more about.”
About 80 percent of the farms that Leuenberger has provided a barn quilt for were completely unknown to him, so the experience has also allowed he and his wife to make some new friends. He noted there was one recipient who broke down in tears when she saw the quilt he had made in honor of her late husband.
The barn quilt project has reached a plateau, with only a few more quilts in the works. While Leuenberger, who has been retired for many years, plans to always accommodate anyone interested in having a quilt on their barn, he does not plan to actively solicit farms like he has done the last few years, so it is uncertain whether the quilt project could reach 400.
Of course, there are still plenty of barns in the county that could host a quilt or two, Leuenberger said, adding that there is also no shortage of potential quilt patterns.
“At the start of this, I learned there are literally thousands and thousands of patterns,” Leuenberger said.”We have one book that we found at the Shawano library … and it has 5,500 patterns. It’s just amazing the number of patterns out there. Every one is different, which is neat.”
Leuenberger is also working on a book with all of the barn quilts created to date, and that book is due to be released in June.
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