The Lower Macungie Barn Expo is scheduled 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. March 22 at the Lower Macungie Community Center, 3450 Brookside Road.

The event will feature presentations by barn experts, tours of an historic barn, a barn art show, a panel discussion for barn preservation techniques and a ceremony of recognition from the Pennsylvania State Senate to honor scholars of the Pennsylvania Barn, Dr. Don Yoder and Prof. Robert Ensminger, for their contributions to the legacy of the Pennsylvania barn.

The Lower Macungie Barn Expo aims to raise awareness in the local community of the importance of regional barns as historic and cultural assets and to provide resources for barn owners to understand best practices in preservation.

This event is a collaboration of the Lower Macungie Township Historical Society, the Historic Barn and Farm Foundation of Pennsylvania, the Schwenkfelder Heritage Center and Library and the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center at Kutztown University.

An open house of the historic Schantz barn located next door to the Lower Macungie Township Community Center by barn scholar Gregory Huber will provide an in-depth tour of the barn's lofty interior and discussion of its form and function.

Jeffrey Marshall, president of The Heritage Conservancy of Bucks County and president of the Historic Barn and Farm Foundation will present on best practices in financially preserving and conserving barns and farm properties in his presentation "Preserving Barns in the Fields and the Fields around the Barns."

Huber, of Eastern Barn Consultants, will offer a view of the barns of Macungie as they were at the time of the 1798 direct tax assessment and discuss the ways in which he has comprehensively surveyed the barns of Macungie.

Douglass Reed, a historic structures consultant and vernacular architectural research historian at Preservation Associates, Inc., will discuss best practices in barn restoration in his presentation "Water, Maintenance, Barns: How to Keep Them Standing."

Patrick Donmoyer, of the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center at Kutztown University, will talk about the decorated barns of the Lehigh Valley, entitled "Hex Signs: Myth and Meaning in Pennsylvania Dutch Barn Stars."

The event program will close with a discussion with local barn experts who can offer advice and answer questions about barn preservation, history and best practices in restoration.

The Expo will also feature displays of local barnscape paintings curated by the Schwenkfelder Heritage Center and Library as well as hex signs and barn stars by Eric Claypoole, barn star artist of Lenhartsville.

There is a cost to attend. Registration will begin 10 a.m. The expo program will start 11 a.m.

To register for the event or for more information, including a full list of speakers, visit Lower Macungie Township Historical Society website at www.lmthistory.org or call 610-967-3653.