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What do you do when you can't convince your community to visit a historic 1900-era potato farm? You bring the potato farm to them.

That's the idea behind the city of Brooklyn Park's "traveling trunk" project. The city found out this week that they'll be receiving $7,000 in state Legacy funding to kickstart their efforts to assemble a trunk full of historical artifacts -- tools, toys, clothing, photos, and other items -- that can be delivered to schools and community groups to tell the story of life on Eidem Homestead.

The farm sits on ten acres of city-owned land. The city's 

Despite all this historical farm activity, it's been tough to attract visitors. The city's grant application says that school tours have declined in recent years. It adds:

The farm is also closed from December to May each year. Jon Oyanagi, Brooklyn Park's director of recreation and parks, said the year-round traveling trunk program will help the city make better use of its historical resources. Most of the grant money will go toward staff time.

Similar trunks programs are in place across the country. There are Grand Canyon 

. There's even an aquatic invasive species 

The city of Brooklyn Park hopes to have its trunk ready to travel by April 2012.

Photo of Eidem Homestead courtesy of the city of Brooklyn Park

Minnesota News

The Cities Blog

Madeleine Baran

Author

What do you do when you can't convince your community to visit a historic 1900-era potato farm? You bring the potato farm to them.That's the idea behind the city of Brooklyn Park's "traveling trunk" project.

Brooklyn Park gets Legacy funding for traveling potato farm

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