Barns

CLARIFICATION: Only the Jell-O side is being painted on Saturday.

The iconic Jell-O/Mail Pouch Barn on Asbury Road in Le Roy will get a fresh coat of paint on the old advertising signs on Saturday by John Doemling, who originally painted the signs on the barn in 2013.

The public is invited to stop by to watch Doemling bring back the vibrancy of the signs, which have faded over the years. 

The barn was built in 1820.

Jell-0, as many know, was founded in Le Roy in 1897.

Up until 1992, the Mail Pouch chewing tobacco company of West Virginia maintained signs on 20,000 barns in 22 states around the country, paying a small fee to farmers to advertise their product on the side of barns.  The big benefit for farmers was getting a regular coat of paint on the entire barn for free, which helped maintain and preserve it.

Federal government regulation, the Highway Beatification Act, curtailed barn advertising, but historic landmarks, such as Mail Pouch Barns, were exempt.

A barn and house on Bethany Center Road, Bethany.

Photo by Howard Owens.

A pair of run-down sheds on an old farm on Edgerton Road, Elba, yesterday evening.

Photo by Howard Owens.

A tractor and barn on MY-T Acres farmland in Byron, off Route 262 near Bank Street Road.

Photo by Howard Owens

Driving into Bergen yesterday evening, I stopped for this photo of a barn, a field and clouds.

I've gotten a lot of positive feedback on this photo since 2013 when I made it.

Today, when I drove out to Pavilion, I discovered the barns have been demolished. A local business owner told me they came down last week.

I actually shot this photo late Sunday afternoon off Route 262 in Byron but didn't get a chance to process it until tonight.

Returning from Le Roy last night, I stopped for a few scenic shots.

Above, a tractor in a field off Randall Road, Stafford.

A barn off Randall Road.

One of my favorite trees (we had a picture just last week) off Route 33 in Stafford.

A drive out to Le Roy today for some business took me down Asbury Road under crisp blue skies and past the landmark Mail Pouch Barn.

If you've ever driven into Pavilion on Route 63, you've surely seen this old barn.

After the accident in Stafford this evening, I grabbed a couple of barn shots.

The white barn, above, is on Randall Road. 

The "Will You Marry Me?" barn is on Route 237 near Morganville. I knocked on the door of the residence to try and get more information but nobody was home.

This shot is actually from a couple of days ago, but I didn't get a chance to post it then.

Taken today while returning from the accident in Alabama.

For a long time, I wanted to take a picture of this barn, but for years, there was a yellow delivery truck parked in front of it that kind of didn't fit the ambiance. This summer, it was gone and the setting today seemed pretty nice.