Barn Quilt Trails are Pretty Common in Minnesota, Have you Heard of Them?

Was looking around for a new fun fall activity and happened to stumble across this on Facebook from Jenny Foster Boldt:

Never have I ever heard of Barn Quilt Trails or Barn Quilts until now. I am 41 and grew up small town, in the country, in Minnesota and have just learned about this. Where have I been? If you are just learning about this like me according to Explore Minnesota:

This open-air art gallery has been created by area students and residents. Our barn quilts are on display at local businesses, barns, buildings, and fence posts. Each Barn Quilt is uniquely and carefully crafted to reflect its sponsor and last for generations.

Apparently there are quite a few Barn Quilt Trails in Central Minnesota. Found the website Barn Quilts of Central MN and there are 138 Barn Quilts under their "Our Quilts" section (I counted so don't judge if I got the number wrong) with pictures and stories of each of them. Many are in the same area so having trails makes a little more sense to me. But if you truly wanted to make a trip out of it you could.

There are Barn Quilts such as "Pawsitivity" (pictured above), "Harmony Square", "Seasons II", and "Freedom Isn't Free" to name very few. By clicking on each of the Barn Quilts you will learn where it is located, it's story and who it was designed and painted by.

For example the fun one "Slice of Home",

Represents pizza, specifically Tower Pizza. Slice of Home is named for the "slice of home" people take with them when they leave Staples, and look forward to when they return.

It then goes on and credits that it was "designed and painted by Katie Benson with quilting expertise from her grandmother, Barb Benson".

I even heard from Lisa Kajer from the Barn Quilts of Central Minnesota where I asked what she believe makes Barn Quilts so special? Her answer:

I think barn quilts are special because they provide free public art about an art form that is usually found inside of the home on fabric quilts. 

When I asked her to explain why a person who hasn't heard about Barn Quilts before should learn more about them, She also replied that, "They can tell a story. Stories can teach us about our history/and or each other", and also went on saying, "Barn quilts are a free visual art form that brightens up our countryside and even cities. Art feeds the soul and can bring a smile to your faces."

Lisa continued on saying they "received more requests about barn quilt trails during COVID than ever before. I think that says something about people wanting to be out and viewing art."

She's not wrong and you could spend HOURS reading on each of these magnificent Barn Quilts and set up weekends on end to go and witness them for yourself. As I was going through reading up on this I was reminded of a couple times where I did see a Barn Quilt, but never really knew what it was. Now I do.

Guarantee if you've been around Central Minnesota even a little bit, you've seen one but may have not known what it was. From here on out, I'll be more cognizant of these pieces of art and maybe collect a gallery of pictures to share before you know it.