Renewable Farming

Covid-19 threatened to block a prom at school. Grads celebrated in a machine shed

In rural America, a high school prom is no time for social distancing. So when Rossville High School couldn’t accommodate the 2020 spring prom because of Indiana’s lockdown rules, graduate Jayden Brown found an alternative venue: An upscale machine shed on  Windy Lane Farms near Muberriy, Indiana, operated by his dad Ty and grandfather Hal Brown. Here’s the scene last night:

June 21, 2020 By Jerry Carlson (photos by Hal Brown and other family members.) “Many parents helped decorate,” Hal texted me when he sent these photos. Not many proms have decorations like an antique Chevy truck,  Case IH 450 tracked tractor and flags waving from the unloading auger of a huge red combine. 

Here’s a quick picture story of a prom night made extra-memorable for those grads — and for all of us living in the countryside.

Especially for grandfathers, like Hal and me.

 

Dancing on a polished concrete floor, with plenty of space for 65 students to
“follow the rules,” as Hal puts it.
Jayden is the second guy from the left

This proved an appealing photo-op background for guys and their dates

 

Another memorable setting for graduate pictures — a completely restored 1950s Chevrolet straight truck 

Jayden and his prom date, Victoria Seest. They’ve
been good friends through school, 4-H and FFA.
Jayden’s graduation photo. The 1961 JD 8020 is the first 4wd John Deere tractor; Ty and family are completely restoring it. Hal Brown says there are only about 70 of these in existence.
Editor’s note: At a recent tractor collector’s auction, “a John Deere 8020 (one of just 100 built), in original condition and showing just 7,482 hours sold for $137,500.”