A Year After the Tornado: Red Barn Farm in Northfield Rebuilt

Almost a year ago a huge tornado swept through Southern Minnesota. The Faribault Airport was destroyed and so was a very popular wedding venue in Northfield called the Red Barn Farm. Now the Red Barn Farm has been rebuilt and has tons of weddings booked for this fall!

Red Barn Farm is owned by the Winter family. When the tornado happened, the Star Tribune says that the "family huddled in a tiny storage room on the barn's ground floor" while the tornado destroyed the 104-year-old barn.

They "spent several days in shock, 'wandering in circles,' as Patrick Winter put it." They were trying to decide if they were going to rebuild the barn or not. Eventually, they decided to rebuild and use some of the salvageable wood from the old barn in the new one.

The new Red Barn Farm is "heated, air-conditioned and full of custome touches that the old barn, for all its charm, lacked." The old barn didn't have any A/C so that in itself is a big step up! There's also space for 300 guests, a spot for a band and dancing, and a bride's dressing room and a groom's dressing room.

They started construction on the new barn in March, finished up in June, reopened in July, and this fall they have 30 weddings. That's amazing! I'm really glad that the terrible tornado turned into something great for the Winter family.

Hang out with Carly Ross on The Mighty 920 KDHL weekdays 1-5pm!