KIRKSVILLE, Mo. — In 1973, Kirksville residents were looking for a new way to promote the culture and art surrounding the area.
They came together and started an event with the hope of brining artists together.
That event would be later known as the Red Barn Arts and Crafts Festival.
“They formed the Red Barn Arts League, which is now the Kirksville Arts Association,”said Kirksville Arts Association President Linda Treasure. “And in October 1974, they held the very first Arts and Crafts Festival near the Red Barn on the university campus.”
Residents picked the Red Barn on Truman State University’s campus (known at the time as Northeast Missouri State University) to help keep a historical landmark on the campus alive.
“The Red Barn was built in 1909 when John Kirk was president, and they wanted to save the Red Barn,” Treasure said. “They wanted to draw attention to it so they were hoping that it would be turned into exhibition space, which that didn’t happen. But the Red barn is still there today.”
50 years later, the festival has grown from its humble beginnings to bring in visitors from all over the United States.
To this day local artists use the event to show off their arts and crafts.
“It really helps get our names out there and it helps support local, smaller businesses of people that it might not be their full-time job that they have, but it’s a secondary income to help out where things are so tight,” saidRobert Brent Weisenboren from just south of Clarence, Mo.
“It just gives us an opportunity, we all kind of work alone and we’re out in our own little niches, and this gives us an opportunity to come together and showcase our efforts,” saidJeanne Scott of Kirksville.
The festival is also a chance for vendors to build connections with their fellow crafters and potential customers alike.
“Just mostly just meeting people and talking to them is good because you learn things from other people who are doing similar stuff and just seeing what other people are making, you get ideas and they get ideas,”Aaron Ivie of Kirksville.
“You got a new audience every year with this being, a parent’s day at the college.,” saidDavid Walker of Macon, Mo. “It’s just a perfect time to meet people, new people and people that’s never been to Kirksville.”
What started as a simple way to share the community’s love for arts and crafts has grown into a unique event that helps artist share their passion with the Heartland.