With a seating capacity of 400, the Three Sisters Barn in rural Dallas Center was not quite full for its grand opening Saturday afternoon, but it was filled to overflowing with good will and good food.
Joining Three Sister Barn owners Glenace Baldner Shank and Lorna Baldner Grow at the open house and ribbon cutting ceremony were Dallas Center Betterment Foundation members Kate Sheets, Alex MacConnell, Bob King and Lori Trammell, Dallas Center City Council members Curt Pion and Danny Beyer and a large number of local friends, supporters and well wishers.
The Three Sisters Barn was born of the marriage of nostalgia and hope, according to Glenace Baldner Shank, whose idea inspired the building. The old gray barn on the home place had served its purpose. Its time was past. But the idea of the farm without its iconic barn was “difficult to imagine,” Shank said.
After discussing the matter with her family, she decided to build a new barn, no longer a home to horses and cattle but a space suitable for special events, such as weddings, receptions and reunions. With Joe Cover of Cover Construction as contractor, the Three Sisters Barn was completed in April 2019, uniting love for the past with love for the future under one beautifully pitched roof.
“I’m happy to see the venue used to celebrate with family and friends in a rural setting, amid the beauty of the farmland and open sky of Iowa,” Shank said at the grand opening.
As noted, the Three Sisters Barn can seat as many as 400 at table. Smaller parties can also easily be accommodated, with numerous options for congregational seating or table dining. The catering kitchen offers heating and refrigeration amenities, and catering trucks have ready outdoor electrical service.
The barn has hosted 14 weddings since its April opening, so the catering machinery is well oiled, as Saturday’s open house demonstrated, with nine or 10 caterers offering a wide variety of delicious fare.
The name Three Sisters Barn came from a desire to pay homage of three generations of three sisters in the family: Glenace’s mother, Lorna Taylor Baldner Grow, is one of three sisters, and Glenace is one of three sisters, and Glenace herself has three daughters.
