A Barn, Dear Friends, and a Beautiful Evening

This was a wish come true for me!  I always, always wanted to give a barn party, but there was a small problem.......I didn't have a barn.......and I didn't have an occasion to give such a party.  Enter my friend, Brenda.  She invited the lay leadership of our church to a party in her beautiful barn!  When she asked me if I would help, I jumped at the chance.  Would I ever!!!

Look at this beautiful land!

This is the way the barn looked two days before the party.  Can you imagine getting a BARN with animals living in it ready for a party?  I can hardly get my home ready!  Plus, it is so dry here, that the dirt and dust from the arena is blowing like crazy, which means we set up the tables early, but couldn't add tablecloths, dishes, or centerpieces until the last minute.

Here's the outside.  Doesn't it look like a good time is about to happen?

This is what greeted guests down by the road.  These pumpkins were commandeered from my front door and have now been returned!  Don't you just love this old wooden wheelbarrow?

Folks entered at this end of the barn and this was found on both sides of the door.

This old church pew sits here all of the time.  I know this photo is blurry, but I wanted you to see this grand piece of history.

Brenda snitched these three pillows from her front porch for the evening.

I thought you might like to see the tack room.

This hand tooled saddle has the badge that reads "Charmaine James".  She was a famous barrel racer and Brenda's husband bought her this beauty.

You can see the party area through the door.

We put the desserts in the wash bay.

We were going for high style and low budget and by using tin foil pans, we made it happen.  

This other bay held drinks in self-help coolers, just inside the door.

This guy graced a very popular table....... 

the one that held the peanuts!

It was so delightful to see all those adults walking around with a bag of peanuts.  (And, because it is 2016, you can see the obligatory bottle of Purell!)

I just love those old burlap bags over the hay bales that hold up the coolers.

This is the buffet table waiting for the barbeque and beans.  More tin pans here.

Each horse had a basket of carrots outside of it's stall, and, again, I was tickled to see all of those grown ups getting so into feeding horses!

Here's what tables for nearly 100 looks like.

Here's the dinner plate.  Yep!  It's a foil pie pan.  No renting (or washing) dishes for us.

A colorful paper lined the plate, and the plastic flatware was tied with a bit of raffia.  You can see the red gingham plastic tablecloth which was over white linen cloths.  A strip of butcher's paper ran down the middle.

Three mason jars made up the centerpiece.  One held corn, one black beans and the little one held just the burlap covered votive.  

Ok, now.  The stalls are ready.....

the tables are ready......

and it is time for the stars of the evening.  This is Brenda's husband, Ken, bringing in his big horse, Dakota.  He's 16 1/2 hands!  No wonder his nickname is "Big D".  A huge thanks go to Ken, as well, for his incredible generosity.

He's ready to party.  Three more beauties were brought in and they each showed their own personality.  They seemed to really love the attention.  

Time for guests!

I very seldom post photos of my friends or guests, but I just had to use this one.  This is Brenda, a woman I am so proud to call my friend.  This entire event was her vision and I was simply an extra pair of hands to help.  She designed, she cleaned, she schlepped, she organized and she was the sweetest leader.  And thus, I got to give a barn party!!!!! 

P.S.  Brenda owned Balthus von Tassel, the beautiful heirloom turkey who was featured in this post.  Please take a look at this handsome devil.

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