Some of my friends are, what you would call, joiners. They belong to this club, that organization, always going to meetings, dinners, playing cards, etc.
You know who you are.
Then there are folks like me - the non-joiners. I have always hated to be locked into some meeting or function, knowing I had to be there EVERY week, EVERY month, EVERY whatever. What if something more interesting came along - couldn't do it because I had to be SOMEWHERE.
Don't get me wrong. There need to be the joiners just as there need to be the non-joiners. It is what makes the world go 'round.
There are two exceptions in my life - my Church, and the Barnstormers.
What is/are the Barnstormers you are probably asking yourself.
Mail Pouch Barns, our very first form of roadside advertising, is very prominent in my area. After all Bloch Brothers Tobacco Company was headquartered in Wheeling West Virginia, just a few miles from where I live in Pennsylvania. So Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania had, at one time, many many barns painted with the Mail Pouch Tobacco sign. It is a part of our history.
Times have changed. The barns are no longer being painted with the Mail Pouch logo. It is a part of our local history that is rapidly disappearing. So, hence the Barnstormers.
This year, 2011, will be the 10th anniversary of the Barnstormers. The main focus of this organization is the preservation of at least some of the history pertaining to the original roadside advertising. But the BEST part, they only meet ONCE A YEAR in July for the Barnstormer picnic. The remainder of the year we receive quarterly newsletters. One of the main goals of the Barnstormers is to donate time and money to help land-owners with barns in desperate need of repair and/or restoration. That is one of this group's goals.
The picnic is held in Belmont, Ohio, the home of the last barn painter Harley Warrick. It was upon his retirement that the company discontinued the practice of painting the barns. We meet in the school gym one Saturday in July. We have Mail Pouch items for sale, a fantastic buffet luncheon (there is sooooo much good food) an auction of mail pouch memorabilia, stories, and tales of adventures while looking for these elusive barns. After all, they are not along the Interstate Highways (they didn't exist back then) but on the out-of-the-way back-road roads.
The picnic is open to EVERYONE, you don't have to be a member. But, membership brings you the newsletter, and keeps you up-do-date on what is going on. Membership is only $15.00 per year, payable in July, either by mail or at the picnic.
This barn is in Harrison County West Virginia. West Virginia has very few barns left standing, even though it is the home state of the tobacco company. Progress has taken so many of them, and abandonment has taken it's toll.
I am sure this barn is thinking that if someone doesn't do something soon it will become just a pile of rubble, as so many of the barns have over the past couple of decades. And last you can see the barn here on the right. I found this barn in Trumbull County, Ohio. You can see that the owners are
very proud of their barn. Just look at the landscaping and how well maintained this barn is .
I am not condoning tobacco, or the use of it, but at one time it was a very important part of our history. At one time the annual compensation ($12.00 per year) paid the taxes on the farms (this was during the depression) and enabled the landowners to keep their farms, not lose them to non-payment of taxes. You can see it was a how important this was.
If you would like a fun day in July, join us on Saturday July 23, 2011 and the Belmont, Ohio (just west of St Clairsville, Ohio) school gym (it is air-conditioned) for a fun day of food, history, stories, and friendships. I hope to see you all there, and God Bless.
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