August 14, 2002
Barns outshine meteor shower
Perseids Festival held at historic Commons barns
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
"Sometimes preservation is progress."
Pausing after a lecture on astronomy and the Perseids Meteor shower, astronomer Jerry Dobek reflected on the struggle to save the historical barns on the Grand Traverse Commons property. As he watched people wander through the Cathedral barn and over the property during Sunday afternoon's Perseids Meteor Shower Festival, Dobek said he appreciates the barns from two perspectives.
Calling himself an old farm boy, he said the barns on the Rolling Centuries Historical Farm are an architectural and engineering beauty that represent a piece of Traverse City heritage.
"I grew up on a 40-acre farm which had the largest barn every constructed in Oakland county," said Dobek, an instructor at Northwestern Michigan College and curator of the Rogers Observatory. "It was torn down about three years ago and I saved at least one beam so I could have a piece of my heritage."
"The question is, who would it hurt or what would it hurt if these barns remained?" he added. "And who or what would be hurt if they didn't?"
Billed as a community picnic and ice cream social, the Perseids Meteor Shower Festival was organized to show another facet of what the Rolling Centuries Historical Farm could provide to the community. Attendees could enjoy ice cream or cold drinks under an awning, wander through the old dairy barn, which featured two calves brought in for the day, and ride a horse-drawn carriage up to the Cathedral barn.
There, a variety of entertainment was available, from square dancing to a singing performance by members of the Grand Traverse Sweet Adelines to lectures on astronomy.
"I think this is perfect, just what Traverse City could use," said Christiane Dent, who attended the event with her husband and two children. "I have only driven by before and the barn is so beautiful in its structure."
Joanne Ellis of Sapphire Lake drove over for the afternoon with her daughter, Nancy Beck. They live in Ohio during the year but spend summers on property near Cadillac.
"We heard about this at Friday Night Live and had just seen the barns from the road so we wanted to come," said Ellis. "We think what they are doing is terrific."
The family has been coming to the area for generations and Beck said they have watched development spread across the region.
"One of our favorite things to do up North is to lie on the dock and watch the meteors, we call them shooting stars," Beck said. "We are a little disappointed by all the lights and development."
The event also raised more than $950 for the farm and collected 327 signatures on a petition supporting the use of the land as a working historical farm combined with recreation and a multi-purpose center.
Emmy Lou Cholak, the events chair for the Rolling Centuries Historical Farm, said the day went off without a hitch and helped spread the word about the property to a variety of people.
"Each time we've had an event here we have people come who've never been here before," she said. "We got a new group of people with each event and as each group comes they learn to love the facility."
"Once they see the barns, they are very enthusiastic about them," she noted.