EudoraNews.com

A few years ago, it was just a regular barn used to store tractors, combines and other farm equipment.

Now, with several hours of labor, hundreds of decorations, some landscaping and a few room additions, Kim's Barn has made a name for itself.

Owner Kim Neis said people from all over book her barn to have weddings, receptions, reunions, parties and other events.

Owner Kim Neis is proud her barn has such character and meaning. Especially valuable to her is this door frame built by her father to her specifications.

"We originally booked a lot of wedding receptions," Neis said. "But lately, we've started to book a lot of weddings, birthday parties and repeat office parties."

She said the idea for Kim's Barn began six or seven years ago.

"Dwayne Richardson and I always threw a neighborhood party twice a year," she said. "We'd move all of the farm equipment out of the barn and we'd pull a wagon in so his band could play. We sat on hay bales for chairs."

She said in 1995 her husband, Greg, quit farming so they moved the farm equipment out of the barn for good.

"We slowly started moving hay bales out and adding a few tables," Neis said. "Then we started getting requests for people having wedding receptions and reunions."

That's when Neis said she really started putting time and effort into the barn.

The walls of the barn are divided into several sections, each section having a different theme, she said.

"We already had fishing poles in one part, so we made it an antique fishing section," she said. "We also pushed Greg's grandfather's tractor into the corner so we could have an antique tractor section. One section contains all four of our grandfathers' tools.

The main area of the barn has a great country atmosphere and contains numerous Eudora memorabilia.

"A lot of the stuff was already stacked there and I just went up with it," Neis said.

Other decorations include police uniforms, a scoreboard, theater seats, sports equipment and Eudora memorabilia.

"A lot of it has been donated," she said. "People that have come to the parties have stuff they want to display and nowhere at home to display it, so they give it to us."

Over the past few years Neis said a gazebo, an old-fashioned front porch, a stage, a kitchen with full buffet table, bathrooms and an additional room have been added by her father, Glen Long.

"We had a New Year's Eve party and we realized we were completely out of space," she said. "So we closed Jan. 1 and my dad, who is a retired carpenter, completed three rooms in three months. He's been at my side every step of the way."

Neis said she usually only book events on the weekend.

"We're already booking events into next year," she said. "We've had phone calls from interested people from California, New Jersey and Texas.

"A girl from Dallas called and wanted to book the barn for her wedding reception," she said. "The weekend she wanted was already full, so she changed the date of her wedding so she could have the reception here."

Neis said many people are impressed with the barn when they come out for an event.

The sports bar section of Kim's Barn features memorabilia such as an old pinball machine and a championship basketball banner from Eudora High.

"It seems like at the end of every event," she said, "at least one person will say that it's a memorable event they'd never forget."

Long said he thought the barn is so popular because of the family-type atmosphere.

"I believe it's really a unique place. There's just so much to look at," he said.

"We've been told there's nowhere else like it," Long said.