Items in the collection are from around the country with roughly half being from Midwestern states. 

By Rich Wicks | Panora Times

Companies that create and sell items that are part of a set or collection have often used the phrase “Collect them all” to encourage customers to do just that. For many collectors, the search is the thrill. Another frequently used term is “Limited Edition” to encourage buyers to act quickly before supplies run out. Those marketing approaches are often successful, as shown in this example from Janice Harbaugh. 

Harbaugh has collected all of the pieces in a collection called the “American Country Barn Series.” She recalled how she first became interested in the collection. 

“My husband and I had an acreage at Mitchellville. After we retired and moved, we would go to farm sales, and he would look at tractors. While he was doing that, I would go to antique shops or flea markets,” Harbaugh said. “I noticed these little barns every so often, and I saw they were part of a collection, and I decided to try to collect them. I thought this could be something fun to pursue.”

At first, Harbaugh added to her collection mostly by chance, when she would happen upon a piece that she had not yet obtained. Later, she was actively searching. 

“At first, I started finding them every so often. And, eventually, I had to go on eBay to find the ones I was missing, and the last one I found was the ultimate one, the Frank Lloyd Wright barn,” Harbaugh said. “I started collecting them in 2010 and finished about five years later.” 

The barns featured in the collection include examples from around the country with roughly half being from Midwestern states. However, the collection includes examples from other areas including Montana, Massachusetts, Virginia and Oregon. 

Harbaugh noted that the miniatures are replicas of actual barns, and she believes each of the full-size barns is still standing. She added that the one Iowa barn in the collection (Elkader, Iowa) was deteriorating but received renovations some years back.

“There are 17 in the collection, and they’re made by Ertl,” Harbaugh said. “That’s a farm toy company that started in 1945, and in the 1990s they made this collection of barns. The barns are historical and architecturally significant, too.” 

Included in the collection are George Washington’s 16-sided barn (Mount Vernon, Virginia) and Frank Lloyd Wright’s Midway Barn (Spring Green, Wisconsin).

Since completing her collection, Harbaugh has occasionally displayed the items so others can enjoy them, too. The complete collection is currently displayed at the Jamaica Library in the window display so patrons can enjoy viewing the items even when the library is closed.  

Although Harbaugh didn’t collect the items for a monetary investment, she is aware that the value has increased over time. 

“The Frank Lloyd Wright barn has been listed for $150, but I didn’t pay anywhere near that much,” Harbaugh said.

 

Deer accidents are keeping the Storesunds busy in Bagley.

 

By Rich Wicks | Panora Times, June 2025

Quintin and Tonya Storesund are the owners and sole employees of an auto body repair shop named Collision Concepts, in Bagley. As the business name would suggest, much of the work completed at Collision Concepts is to repair damage caused by any type of impact between a vehicle and anything else. In Guthrie County, many of those impacts involve deer.

“With all of the deer running around, that’s the majority of what we’re doing here,” Tonya said. “Sometimes, we’re booked out two or three months, but with it being a one-man show, he does the whole job from start to finish.”

The shop is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and closed on weekends. While Quintin does the repairs, Tonya handles everything else. The business phone number is 641-427-5831.

“We opened up in 2003. It’s just him and I — a husband-and-wife team,” Tonya said. “I handle the writing of the estimates, dealing with insurance companies, billing, and keeping the customers up to date.”

The Storesunds have lived at Lake Panorama since 2000 and have operated their business in Bagley since 2003. They have three children, with one still at home, and two grandsons.

Quintin earned a degree in the auto body program from Northwest Iowa Community College, but he says his education is “never-ending.” As vehicles have become more computerized, sensors and cameras are installed in many locations as safety enhancements. Because of this, auto body work has become much more complex. To deal with the ever-changing challenges, Quintin maintains an I-CAR (Inter-Industry Conference on Auto Collision Repair) Gold Class certification.

Another significant part of Quintin’s work is calibration, which means the aligning and adjusting of sensors and cameras to ensure proper functioning of features (such as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, lane-departure warning and automatic emergency braking), especially after repairs or replacements. This is often true even if the sensor or camera wasn’t replaced.

“A lot of times, if we’ve removed a front bumper and put it back on, we may have to recalibrate it,” Tonya said.

To handle this work, the Storesunds added a separate building directly across the street from their shop specifically for calibration. Tonya explained why a separate area was needed.

“You’ve got to have a lot of room around the vehicle in order for the calibration to work,” she said.

According to Tonya, many customers do not realize that Collision Repairs offers windshield repair.

“We do windshield repairs, both the entire windshield replacement and also rock-chip repairs,” she said.

Collision Concepts also offers specialty products to protect vehicles from specific damages. 

“We also do 3M ceramic kits and 3M paint protection film. It’s a clear film that goes along the rocker panels of your vehicle,” Tonya said. “It’s great for vehicles that drive on gravel roads.”

Tonya added that some of what Quintin works on isn’t auto body work. 

“He does do some mechanic stuff,” she said. “He’ll do radiators and condensers, but as far as engines and oil changes, no.” 

In years past, the Storesunds have sometimes employed others to help handle the workload, and that is a possibility they may consider again when the time is right. 

“We always have the room and equipment to expand if that right person comes along,” Quintin said.