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Lake Geneva producer presents documentary on old barns

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Tom Laughlin, center, is offering a premiere of the third film in his American barn stories series. The documentary will be shown Jan. 25 at the Lake Geneva Public Library.

LAKE GENEVA — Tom Laughlin of Kovia Productions will premiere his new documentary about old barns on Jan. 25 at the Lake Geneva Public Library. The program, “American Barn Stories and Other Tales From the Heartlands III: Wisconsin & Minnesota Barns,” is the third program in Laughlin’s PBS series about old barns.

Laughlin, of Lake Geneva, will share the story of how his film was created, display his camera equipment and answer questions after the film viewing on the library’s big screen. BelGioioso Cheese Co. and Wollersheim Winery are lead sponsors of Laughlin’s program. The library program is sponsored by the Friends of the Lake Geneva Public Library and is part of the library’s American Classics Series.

Laughlin’s show opens with a look at the dramatic round barns of Vernon County in southwestern Wisconsin, built more than 100 years ago by Algie Shivers. The film features a batch of quirky characters and an up-close look at a number of old barns in Wisconsin and Minnesota -- historic structures that are swiftly disappearing from our rural landscape.

Laughlin often is asked why he chose to focus on barns.

"The answer is pretty simple,” he said, “Cameras love barns and lots of people do, too. The structures seem to take on their own life and a personality.”

Laughlin invites people who might know of a good barn story to contact him with the details.

(Read all of this week's stories from Walworth County Sunday HERE.)

If you go

-- What: Tom Laughlin’s premiere of “American Barn Stories and Other Tales From the Heartlands III: Wisconsin & Minnesota Barns”

--Where: Lake Geneva Public Library, 918 W. Main St., Lake Geneva

-- When: 6:30 p.m. Jan. 25

-- Contact: Call (262) 249-5299 or go online to the Lake Geneva Library for more information.