It’s been almost a year since the Burns family had to leave their family farm after it was expropriated by the province last August to make room for the Regina bypass project.
On Monday, they hired crews to move a very wide load, and keep a piece of their family history.
“The barn is 91 years old and we just wanted to save it,” Penny Dufour said. Dufour lives in Kelowna now, but she grew up on the family farm just a few kilometers north of Regina.
“We weren’t sure it was going to happen today because of the rain,” Dufour said. But despite a damp forecast, the move was able to go ahead.
Lucyk Building Movers did the heavy lifting. The crew is from Milestone and made the trip to Regina to complete the job.
Overall, Garnet Lucyk, president of Lucyk Building Movers, said the move was a simple one.
“We were filling some ruts up there were potholes. We had to carry the barn low to get underneath the transmission line so we couldn’t carry it high. We only had it a foot and a half off the ground, that created a challenge,” Lucyk said.
The 91-year-old barn was in very good condition for its age. Something Lucyk says is becoming rare.
“We don’t get many of these to move anymore. They’re like dinosaurs, they’re disappearing.”
As for the family, they’re happy their barn isn’t disappearing, even if that means it has to leave their old farmyard.
“It was a landmark where it was,” Dufour said. “Now it’s here and that’s great.”
The barn was relocated to another parcel of land owned by the family, only a few kilometres away from the farmyard where it stood for almost a century. It was put on a temporary foundation after the move, but the family plans to lay a permanent foundation later this summer. Down the line, they hope to refurbish the barn to keep its intact for the future.
