Under vivid blue skies and an unseasonable hot sun, thousands gathered on the grounds of the Barns at the Grand Traverse Commons for a Harvest Festival.
In fact, so many people came to celebrate the fall Saturday afternoon that organizers could not keep count. A steady stream began an hour before the event officially began and only let up 30 minutes after it ended. Spread out on grassy slopes with the soaring barns as a backdrop, the event featured everything from pumpkin decorating, drumming and dancing to ice cream, tours of the historic barns and a book sale.
"This is wonderful, we have come here since the first year," said Alberta Zeman of Rapid City, who attended with her daughter, Jennifer, and her daughter's caretaker. "It's just so neat to see this property being used by the community."
Hosted by the Rolling Centuries Farm, the day was deemed a resounding success despite long lines for a horse-drawn carriage or wagon ride and pumpkins that disappeared hours before the event was over. They believe that those set backs point to a hunger in the community for family-friendly, economical events that hark back to simpler times in Traverse City's history.
"Every time I turned around I tried to count it and there were always new faces, but people were staying there for a long time," said Emmy Lou Cholak, one of the founders of the Rolling Centuries Farm. "I think people had a good time and I think they were all happy."
The Rolling Centuries Farm concept of an educational working farm, an idea sparked by schoolchildren, is one of the proposed uses for the historic Barns and 54.7 surrounding acres. This property is owned by a joint Garfield Township-Traverse City Recreational Authority.
Two millages passed in 2004 got the ball rolling: one establishing the Authority and authorizing them to buy property and the second providing operational funds for 20 years. These millages also allowed the Authority to purchase land along Grand Traverse Bay that formerly held the Smith Barney building, now torn down, and the 117-acre Hickory Meadows.
The next step for the Barns property is to gather public input on what the Authority should do with the property that had been a working farm on the former Traverse City State Hospital grounds. This public process, known as Brainstorming the Barns, is being developed and will launch next year. The goal is a final recommendation by June 2007.
"They're soliciting input actively going outside of people who've been involved," said Dan Tholen, who has been working to save the property from development for years. "
What they're going through I went through five years ago, when the Commons Board wanted to get rid of it, 'We're just going to put up a for sale sign and sell it to the highest bidder." That's what I started five years ago and the Rolling Centuries idea came out of that."
Rolling Centuries Farm has hosted numerous events at the property over the past four years, including snowshoe romps, festivals, concerts, star-watching parties and dances. They hope that the Harvest Festival last Saturday will reacquaint residents with the property and interest them in decision-making process.
Cholak noted that the nonprofit organization believes the land and buildings lend themselves to multiple uses. With the centerpiece being a working education farm, with restored orchards, greenhouses, solar panels and windmills.
"Our vision is not an exclusive vision, it's an inclusive vision," she said. "All these ideas are very good - offices and studios and classrooms and a theater — and it makes an educational farm even better."
"Between the two barns is what we call the amphitheater, its' a natural amphitheater and the acoustics are perfect," Cholak added. "And the cathedral barn has natural acoustics."
For more information on the Grand Traverse Common barns and the upcoming public input process, see www.brainstormingthebarns.org. For more information on the Rolling Centuries Farm, see their website at www.rollingcenturiesfarm.org.