Facebook
Home > About > The Round Barn

The Round Barn

The Iconic Tonsfeldt Round Barn

Built in 1918 by H.A. Tonsfeldt, the barn originally sat on the wast side of Le Mars, where it was home to Tonsfeldt's purebred cattle. Among the acclaimed cattle was his prized Polled Hereford bull, Ito's Perfection.

In 1981, the Leonard, Marvin and Roman Langel families donated the barn to the Plymouth County Fairboard. In September of that year, sufficient funds had been secured to repair and move the barn to the Pioneer Village, located on the Plymouth County Fair grounds.

The century-old barn remains a majestic site on the fair grounds and welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors each year during the annual county fair, held in late July.

2022 Feature Exhibit - Plymouth County Women in Ag

For the eight year, the Round Barn will host an agricultural education exhibit featured inside the famous Tonsfeldt Round Barn at the Plymouth County Fair. The exhibit is hosted by the Le Mars Area Chamber of Commerce Agriculture Committee, with assistance from the FFA chapters from high schools within the county.

The annual exhibit showcases the economic importance of Plymouth County agriculture and uses various "hands-on" interactive displays to make the exhibit educational and enjoyable. The exhibit features enlarged, often times, life-size photographs of everyday life of agriculture. Through the "Did You Know…?" posters, visitors learn of interesting facts, statistics, and trivia relating to local agriculture.

Inside the round barn exhibit, visitors will see a live bee hive and how honey is made. Children of all ages are fascinated to turn and operate a crank and watch the movement of grain through an auger and elevator with the simulated grain auger and elevator system. You can watch a video showing how a cow is milked on a carousel system. Learn about the area's dairy production and dairy processing industry, and see how ice cream is made. Find out interesting facts about corn and soybeans by playing a game of bean bag toss or corn hole. Measure yourself against the height of a corn stalk. You can even take a selfie photograph at a photo display of the round barn. Test your knowledge of livestock with flip boards for dairy, beef, and swine. Imagine you are driving a tractor by sitting in our "Cab Lab." When visiting the century old round barn, be sure to look up and marvel at the architecture and construction of the round barn using only simple hand tools.

This year, the focus will be on the dynamic Plymouth County women who are involved in agriculture. Each year the display changes to focus on a different aspect of local agriculture.

Back to
Top
Tickets & Deals