ELK GROVE, CA (MPG) - Elk Grove Historical Society is inviting the community to a modern barn raising. The manual labor will be replaced with good food and music, as the society raises money for a barn to display historical carriages and host events.

The Raise the Barn Banquet is scheduled from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Aug. 23 at District56. Admission is $85 per ticket or $150 for two tickets.

Sponsorship options are available from $500 to $15,000.

Historical society Past President Jim Entrican said the barn would fill out a plan that the society has been working on for decades, as it develops Heritage Park, its location at the northwest corner of Elk Grove Regional Park.

Published in 1982, the plan envisioned the Elk Grove Hotel, a jail, a blacksmith shop and a barn on the site. The first three buildings are already in place, in addition to the historic Foulks house. The barn would evoke a hay barn that once stood on the site of Heritage Park, and it is the only major structure left to build.

The 7,500-square-foot barn would be capable of accommodating up to 300 people, Entrican said, giving the society a large indoor space that it can rent out for events such as weddings and use for its own events.

 In between events, the barn would display carriages, wagons and memorabilia from local collectors.

The society has the wood, which will be repurposed from an old bridge on Bruceville Road, but construction will be costly. Four years ago, a construction estimate for a smaller version of the barn came in at more than $700,000 and the price tag of the final design will be higher. Entrican said he hoped to raise the funds over three years, beginning with the banquet in August.

The banquet will feature a “wholesome meal” with barbecue and a jazz band. There will also be a live auction and a silent auction.

During the society’s monthly tours of Heritage Park, Entrican told the Citizen that the barn could inspire new interest in Elk Grove’s history.

“All the new people that move to this town don’t really have an appreciation of the history of this town; they’re too new,” Entrican said. “But when you build this thing and you have these carriages in there and you start advertising that, I think we’d pull a lot more people.”

To buy tickets, visit the Elk Grove Historical Society website at elkgrovehistoricalsociety.com.