Rural Revitalization Idea #5: County of 100 Barns!

I recently attended a conference for Tourism Middlesex, where some visioning activities occurred as to what makes their County unique. Why would people what to visit. In speaking with many of the participants and business Owners there, they all have great components but there was no common thread that linked them or was powerful enough to draw the tourist dollars to the County. One major movement in Middlesex County right now is the barn quilt trail. they recently obtain significant funding to grow the route. This got me thinking...wouldn't a county be at the forefront of Ontario if they started actively preserving, maintaining, and adaptively reusing bank barns. It may be my soft spot for bank barns, but they are coming down faster than ever now, and if we don't do something, this important part of our rural landscape will be lost. So I did a bit of google research and discovered many organizations in the States dedicated to helping farmers preserve and maintain bank barns. They provide matching funding, tax breaks and grants to barn owners that would like to preserve their barns, but need some assistance. So why shouldn't we? This idea has been brewing for