Track down, salute Butterfield barn along the way
This year – 2016 – marks the 10th anniversary rally of MINI Takes the States (MTTS). The BMW MINIs shifted into gear on Saturday, July 9, at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia, and on Saturday, July 23, received the checkered flag at the Thermal Club in Palm Springs, California.
MINI is a British automotive make of car owned by BMW (Bayerische Motoren Werke AG), headquartered in Munich, Germany, that specializes in small cars. The original MINI was a line of iconic British small cars manufactured by the British Motor Corporation from 1959 until 2000.
MINI owners recently rallied across the country, stopping only to sleep and eat – while having the time of their lives along the way. Over the course of two weeks, they visited 18 states, racking up over 4,397 miles traveled across these United States.
Rally makes Sunday stop at Butterfield barn
Along their rally route through Watonwan County on Highway 60, the group made a special stop at a Butterfield barn.
During pre-route arrangements in 2015, various pictures from along this year’s course were posted online and participants were asked to guess where in the United States they were located.
One of the those spots was the barn near Butterfield – which affectionately became known known by rally drivers as “The Barn.”
Turns out “The Barn” is the Adrian barn which has stood for years on the farm yard of Margaret Adrian and the late John Adrian on the southeast corner of the city along Sturm Avenue.
“The Barn” became a major discussion point among MINI participants, with guesses on its location from across the nation. One of the rally participants finally was able to locate “The Barn” on Google Maps using GPS (global positioning system) coordinates.
While traveling through the area, the members of the MINIs rally visited the farm – most specifically, “The Barn” – and hung a sign on the building noting that the MINIs were there on Sunday, July 17 – marking for forever its importance in the MINI Takes the States 2016 trip.
Shares Margaret Adrian of Buttefield, “It was exciting. I had never seen those types of cars before. Now they made my barn famous and put it on the map.”
MINI’s 2016 rally focus on #DefyHunger
On the route the MINIS took across-the-country on their drive, they additionally explored the people and programs that are serving rural communities where hunger is a daily occurrence, working with farmers to bring fresh produce to urban communities and helping to provide Americans with fresh, nutritious meals for their children.
They did this because a portion of the proceeds from each registration fee will be donated to the official MTTS charity – Feeding America® – the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief organization. The Feeding America® network of 200 food banks and 60,000 local food pantries and meal programs provide food and services to more than 46 million people, including 12 million children and 7 million seniors, in all 50 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. Each year Feeding America provides more than 3.7 billion meals in addition to programs and services to help clients become self-sufficient.
MINI USA’s rally to #DefyHunger (defyhungertogether.com)as set a goal to raise $75,000 as part of the MTTS experience. Every $1 raised provides 11 meals to the 48 million people. The group smashed their goal of providing 800,000 meals to families, raising 1,000,000 meals for Feeding America.
For more on MINI Takes the States, go to: www.minitakesthestates.com.
