Jones Yellow Barn Centennial Celebration

The Jones Yellow Barn Centennial Celebration” is a community event bringing together food, entertainment, agriculture and education. The price of admission includes a hay wagon tour of the Jones property, all-you-can-eat pulled pork meal, live bluegrass music, a farm equipment display and more than a dozen educational experiences that include an Old World Wisconsin blacksmith demo; “Jamesway” history presented by the Hoard Historical Museum; Live animals: dairy cow breeds, swine and honey bees; famer talks about all aspects of dairy farming; and the Jefferson County Barn Quilt Trail. The two-story, gothic roof structure affectionally known as the “Yellow Barn” because of its distinctive butter yellow color, was built along a wide bend in the Rock River about a mile southwest of Fort Atkinson by W.D. James, founder of The James Manufacturing Company. Mr. James, who bought 80-acres from the Jones family around 1919 to establish his own dairy farm, is best known for creating “The James Way” that’s still synonymous with innovative dairy farm equipment today. State-of-the-art for its time, the yellow dairy barn was built with two interior silos and a single exterior silo, and equipped with the latest James Way ventilation, support columns, stanchions, stall fittings, drinking cups, mangers, and litter removal systems. Shortly after W. D.’s death in 1948, the farm, including the Yellow Barn, was sold back to the Jones family which operated the property as a dairy farm and swine breeding operation until 1985. The Jones Yellow Barn Centennial Celebration begins at the Jones Market located at 601 Jones Avenue in Fort Atkinson. Hayrides to the barn leave every 15 minutes. A limited number of tickets are available at $25.00 per person, with all proceeds benefitting local youth agriculture scholarships. For more information about the event or to register online for a specified time slot, visit www.ShopJonesMarket.com.