‘End of an era’: clean up party planned for century-old Manitoba barn

A century-old barn southeast of Beausejour, Man., collapsed in June, 2025. (Keesha Small)

A barn that had stood the test of Manitoba’s weather for about a century has finally come crumbling down—prompting a family to schedule a public clean up party so that a new one can go back up.

Keesha Small said the barn has been a familiar sight for five generations of her family, initially built by her great-grandparents sometime in the 1920s.

“It literally is an end of an era to us,” said Small, who has lived on the farm southeast of Beausejour her entire life. “There’s so many memories (attached) to it.”

Small said the barn was standing up until last Monday, when it collapsed following strong gusts of wind.

“We decided to have just a big old country bash,” she said, adding that members of the public are invited to help clean up the historic relic and enjoy a barbeque afterwards.

“We appreciate everyone that is willing to come out and help, or even just spread the word, because it’s all about community at this point. It’s just bringing everybody together,” said Small.

Besides keeping a few pieces of the barn to serve as a reminder of her family’s history, Small said she has no plans for the wooden structure.

“Other than that, everybody is welcome to take it and repurpose it and give it another life.”

She said she’s hoping to get the structure cleared off from the concrete foundation—which her great-grandparents also built—as a brand-new barn is planned to be constructed in its place to “continue on the legacy of the small farm.”

“(The barn) was a range of things throughout the years, for what we built it for to begin with was cattle,” said Small.

“Then as the times changed, pigs were more affordable, so we did pigs. And then once the times changed again, we turned into an asphalt operation … We stored a lot of our asphalt equipment in there, and now we’re looking to restart the farm with cattle again.”

The barn clean up party is scheduled for Saturday, July 19 at 9 a.m., located on Road 44 East between Garven Road and 67 Road North.

“We’re hoping to have hotdogs and burgers, and if anybody’s wanting to bring food, they are more than welcome to,” she said.

“It would be phenomenal to see everybody get together and rekindle that old country community living.”