Heritage foundations plan 'Bicycle Barnstorming Tour' for June 2012

MT. PLEASANT, Sanpete County — Bicycle Barnstorming Tour, a three-day event scheduled during the second week of June 2012 to help promote awareness and appreciation of historic barns in Sanpete and Sevier counties, will be sponsored by the Mormon Pioneer National Heritage Area and the Utah Heritage Foundation.

The tour will bring together cyclists, heritage and history buffs, and barn aficionados to explore how old barns contribute to the rustic aura of central Utah.

"These old barns are some of the most distinctive remnants of our pioneer heritage," said Monte Bona, executive director of the MPNHA. "They reflect the area's agricultural flavor, the industry and practicality of the early Mormon colonizers, and the pattern of settlement they established. By partnering with the Utah Heritage Foundation for next summer's Barnstorming Tour, we can help people appreciate not only the barns themselves, but the characteristics they represent"

For three days, people will bicycle through locations in both counties on a guided tour of old barns. Participants will take photographs and make written descriptions of the barns. That information will be used to create a guide of old barns in central Utah. Current plans are for a printed guide as well as a smartphone app.

The project has been funded in part by a grant from the Eccles Fund for Utah of the National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP), which gave $5,000 to the MPNHA for the event.

The event's coordinator, Susan Crook, who is also the Utah Heritage Foundation's central and southern Utah field representative, said the tour is still in its planning stages and anyone interested in participating — as riders, sponsors, donors, volunteers or barn owners — should contact her at 435-773-5336 or susan@utahheritagefoundation.org.