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Now that’s ‘agri-tainment’

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The five facades of the barn were painted by Scott Hagan and built using lumber from Shane and Deanna Cole’s farm.

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From left, Barn Arts painter Scott Hagan, Shane Cole and Deanna Cole sit on the boarding house part of the barn.

HOLBROOK – Deanna Cole thought her husband, Shane, might come home with steaks for dinner along with some nice chocolates for their 26th wedding anniversary last August.

Instead, he came home with a big piece of paper. After examining the hand-drawn structure on the blueprint, Deanna knew exactly what it was – a barn made to look like an old western town.

“All I had asked was for him to build me a chicken coop,” Deanna joked.

Shane Cole said the idea first took root after she asked for a chicken coop to be built on their farm near Holbrook. After he agreed, a request was made for a place for bunnies, then Deanna talked about getting a few goats.

“There was no way I was going to sit down and build all these different little shelters,” Shane said. “That’s when I thought of combining all of them.”

He drew the plans for a 12- by 60-foot barn and, with some help, cut lumber from trees on the farm and created the barn with five facades made out to look like an old western town.

“It quickly became more than a project of love and fun, but became a learning experience for everyone,” Deanna said. “It’s just been a great fun family project to bring everyone together.”

The barn looks like a small western shopping strip with five different fronts in different colors they just finished painting Tuesday. Each façade is a shop of some sort with names that hold meaning to the Cole family. The shops with the painted names of King Blacksmith and T&M Merchantile are named after ancestors of the Cole family.

“There is a lot of history we are trying to bring to it,” Shane said.

On the left side of the barn is a boarding house where the Coles want to create a living area for people who want a weekend escape or, as they call it, “agri-tainment.” The T&M building houses Deanna’s chicken coop and a little seating area styled with old furnishings. The Breeders Bank is bunnies are kept and the King Blacksmith and Hoovers Run Milling facades open into one large room filled with stalls for Deanna’s goats.

The small western strip barn became an icon for some as they worked to build it over the past 13 months. Each day, the Coles hear cars stopping and being thrown into reverse so motorists can gawk at the structure.

And the animals love it just as much as the people Deanna Cole said.

“They are all over it,” Deanna said. “I love hearing them run across the porch and hear the ‘crickety crack’ sound it makes.”

The Coles plan to add to the barn in the future. They hope to add a functioning old water tower, along with a coal mine shaft styled as a barn to their backyard.

Shane knows his wife will more than likely add some more animals to the farm in the future and plans to stay with the theme of the old west within the rest of his creations. He also wants to turn the farm into a unique version of a bed-and-breakfast in the future and he believes the barn will help draw people to the farm.

“It’s just really unique and well done,” Shane said.

To see more photos of the barn’s progress, along with other projects on the farm, go to their Facebook page by searching Living On The Farm, or check out the artist’s video.

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