HANCOCK COUNTY — An old basketball goal hangs in the hay house of a former dairy barn that’s been in Lori Divine’s family for more than 70 years.
Oftentimes, when she talks to older local farmers about where the farm is, they share memories of playing basketball and working there.
“A lot of older folks, they either put up hay here, or they played basketball, or most of the time both,” she said.
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Now that she and her husband, Evan Divine, own the farm, they’re allowing for new generations to make different memories in the barn as they continue to operate it as a venue for weddings, celebrations and other events.
The couple’s business, For-Lou Farms, is named after Forest and Louise Sparks, who bought the farm in 1942 and built the dairy barn in 1947. Forest Sparks was Lori Divine’s great-grandfather’s brother.
The farm has remained in the family ever since. Lori Divine and her sisters showed cows raised there in 4-H throughout their childhoods.
“It was always a special place to me,” Lori Divine said.
It became even more special after she and her husband were married there in 2015.
“That’s how we knew that the barn worked for weddings,” she said.
The Divines bought the farm two years ago and use it to raise their grass-fed beef cows.
“We wanted to keep this barn up because it’s a really cool barn; it’s got a history of the farming community around here, and it was needing some work,” Lori Divine said. “…But it’s very expensive to upkeep a barn like this, and so we needed to find a way to use it to justify the upkeep of it.”
They knew barns continue to gain popularity as wedding venues, and decided to renovate theirs for that purpose as well as other events.
The former hay house main floor can hold up to 240 people for wedding ceremonies and about 150 for receptions with tables and chairs.
Downstairs can hold up to 130 with its long tabletops built into the barn’s rows of original milking stanchions.
“We didn’t want to take these out because it’s kind of the heart of the barn,” Lori Divine said of the stanchions.
Evan Divine came up with the idea to use them for tables.
“It was definitely a piece of the barn that we didn’t want to take out, and we just struggled to come up with what we could use these for,” he said. “…A lot of younger people really don’t understand how these old dairy farms work, so hopefully it’s a little bit of a history lesson for them, and then it’s something that a lot of older people would love to see again.”
A dressing room was created out of the original milk house before the rest of the barn was built. Evan Divine covered the walls in timber from his reclaimed barn wood business to give the room a more rustic look and align it with the theme of the rest of the property.
The room that formerly housed the barn’s milk tank is now a food preparation area with a sink, counter space and refrigerator. Another room that formerly had a dirt floor and stalls for calving got a new floor, new ceiling and restroom to become a multipurpose area.
A deck was also added along one of the exterior walls, which Lori Divine said works well for ceremonies because it’s shaded in the afternoons and evenings.
“This is probably my favorite part of the barn in the evenings,” she said. “It’s just a peaceful place, and you can watch the cows out in the pasture.”
The couple said it was about a two-year process to get it all ready. Evan Divine did much of the work himself. It included permitting, adding lighting, redoing the electrical system, adding a fire alarm system, replacing windows, tuck-pointing blocks, covering block walls with wood and repainting the exterior. They’re also in the process of putting in new restrooms.
For-Lou Farms has hosted a few weddings so far and a couple other smaller events.
“We’re really open to about anything,” Lori Divine said. “Bridal showers, baby showers, family reunions, class reunions, stuff like that.”
With their backgrounds in natural resources and working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Divines have also considered holding workshops in the barn.
For-Lou Farms is a seasonal venue available in the vicinity of April through October. For more information, visit forloufarms.com.
