Upgraded barn quilts installed in Kalona

KALONA — Three new barn quilts were hung in the Kalona area over the weekend. The installations are part of an effort by the Washington County Barn Quilt Committee to repaint some badly deteriorated blocks hung in 2007.

New blocks were installed on the north side of the Appliance Barn on Highway 1, the Gingerich barn, and the Perry Miller barn east of Kalona on Highway 22. The committee hopes to replace the block on the north side of the Appliance Barn and a few others in the county that show major damage due to the elements.

“We are the barn quilt capital of Iowa, we have more barn quilts than any other county,” Washington County Barn Quilt Committee Chair Julie Mangold said. “We want to continue to have them look good, and the sun, especially, is hard on them if they are facing south or west, they just don’t hold up.”

Mangold said the quilts also served as preservation incentives for some of the county’s older structures.

“If we put a barn quilt on a barn, we hope that it would help preserve the barn,” she said. “There’s so many barns in the state that are gone, and so we wanted to try to encourage the owners to preserve.”

The committee has spent the last several years replacing deteriorated quilts — which are made of wood, not cloth — with more durable versions using different materials.

“In 2007, we used an oil based paint … and it just did not hold up,” Mangold said. “We discovered a paint that’s used on the signage in the Atlanta Braves stadium, and it works really well. It’s latex, and so it’s much easier to use, we don’t have to wait as long for it to dry … and we used better lumber.”

The three newly installed quilts went to spots most desperate for repairs, according to Mangold, who said the Kalona area’s typical quilt colors are more vulnerable to the heat.

“The Amish Loop … features quilts that have the Amish colors, black, the bright pinks, purples, lavenders, blues,” she said. “Because they have black on them, they don’t hold up as well … the appliance barn is right on Highway 1, there’s one on both ends of it, lots of people see that and they notice that it doesn’t look good.”

Mangold said the committee had its eyes on other out-of-shape barn quilts along its Kalona loop, hoping to replace them in the next 6-9 months.

The group often receives calls from property owners hoping to get their own barn quilts. While the committee’s designated routes have specific requirements — like not crossing gravel roads, for the sake of tour buses — it does sell directions for people to make their own at the extension office.

“I have one, it’s my own, we painted it ourselves,” Mangold said. “Ours is on a machine shed, so people can do whatever they want. The committee won’t.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com