Obama barn hurting brother's Elkhart County business

by Sarah Rice (srice@wsbt.com)

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Bullard's Barns for Obama and Bullard's Farm Market

On the left is Kurt Bullard's Elkhart County barn, painted with an Obama sign as part of the grassroots "Barns for Obama" campaign. On the right is the sign at Bullard's Farm Market, owned by Kevin Bullard, who says he is losing business because of his brother's barn. (WSBT photos)

By WSBT News1

Story Created: Sep 12, 2008 at 3:27 PM EST

Story Updated: Sep 12, 2008 at 5:31 PM EST

ELKHART COUNTY -- There's no doubt the upcoming election is having a big impact on people. But places? A local farm market owner is losing business because of a political sign put up by his brother.

Sweet corn is their specialty. But lately Bullard's Farm Market is getting some not-so-sweet attention.

"Over the Labor Day weekend my brother painted a barn," explained Bullard's Farm Market owner Kevin Bullard.

An Obama Barn that is. It's part of a grassroots campaign called "Barns for Obama." Supporters paint an "O" on their barns to show their support.

"I was contacted by the state Obama campaign and asked if we would be interested because they have been doing this in Ohio, quite a bit," said Kevin's brother Kurt Bullard in a September 2 interview. "There's barns all over Ohio — with Obama barns. And I said sign us up!"

Kevin says many people don't realize he and his brother no longer run the market together. But that's not stopping people from complaining.

"From what we can gather with our receipts and our day-to-day, we're saying it's probably down a good 10 to 15 percent," said Kevin Bullard.

Kevin said enough is enough. He wants to make sure his message is loud and clear. So he put it up on his sign: "It's not our barn."

"We're getting some feedback from people that have seen it and drove by and have come in and said, 'We're glad that it's not your barn.' Or, 'We were wondering what the connection was,'" he said.

Carolyn Schrock-Shenk teaches conflict studies at Goshen College. She says when people talk politics it often taps into their identity.

"When people feel like that's in tension with someone else or being in any way judged or attacked or even opposition to it, they, we don't do so well sometimes," said Schrock-Shenk.

Kevin hopes clearing up the confusion will turn business around, especially in the next few months.

"I've got four acres of pumpkins out in the field. I've got over 8,000 pumpkins out there. I want to make sure that I get them sold for Halloween," he said.

Kurt Bullard and other volunteers plan to paint O's on at least six other barns.

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