Barn in Works at Farmstead

Jul. 6–Soon enough the cows of Overland Park’s Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead will be able to come home — literally.

Recently, Overland Park’s City Council approved $125,000 for the new Dairy Barn at the farmstead. The remaining $375,000 of the project will be paid by donations and grants secured by Overland Park’s Friends of the Farmstead Committee. The facility will serve a variety of functions, but one of the main purposes will be housing some of the farmstead’s animals. Previously most had to be sent home for the winter.

“Right now we don’t really have any facilities,” that are good for storing animals in the winter, said Doug Grossenbacher, president of the Friends of the Farmstead Committee. “This will give us a nice shelter for wintering some of the animals.”

Grossenbacher said the barn will be a big benefit to humans, too. Currently the farmstead doesn’t have a multi-purpose space with work areas for the park’s staff.

“Now we’ll have that place,” Grossenbacher said.

Patrons may notice a more simple addition that will come with the barn. The new building will have — for the first time — permanent restrooms for the western portion of the farmstead. Currently the farmstead uses portable toilets, which don’t always meet demands.

“The public will probably be happiest,” about the bathrooms, Sandy Queen conceded. But Queen, the manager of golf and farmstead operations for the city, said the barn’s other uses would strike a chord with visitors.

Plans call for the barn to eventually include an interactive learning station where visitors can find information about the history of dairy farming, particularly in eastern Kansas. The learning center will feature state of the art audio and video elements.

Queen hopes the barn will eventually allow the farmstead to branch out from its core audience of children. Queen said the new barn would give the farmstead the opportunity to host exhibits, which it could update frequently. Currently, he said, when visitors come to the farmstead they know what they expect to see.

“(The Dairy Barn) will give us the ability to attract people who may not be the typical farmstead visitor,” Queen said. “You’ll be able to go to the farmstead, maybe even without your kids, and exhibits could maybe be geared a little bit more toward adult education.”

Queen said he hoped the Dairy Barn would be open by the spring of 2007.

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