We come up here every night and just sit. All of a sudden, we thought, the view, the sunset view. You sit out here and it’s just a beautiful sunset.”

Mindy Symbal

For more information follow Symbal’s Sunset View on Facebook or call (715)829-0399.

In July 2021, dairy farmers, Tom and Mindy Symbal were faced with an unspeakable tragedy. In the middle of a windy day, a spontaneous fire broke out from a tractor parked 20 feet from their dairy barn on their 400-acre property and destroyed their 100-year-old family barn, burning the haymow and only leaving the bottom of the barn. Neighbors rushed to help and while some animals were lost in the fire, most were saved and thankfully no people were hurt or injured in the process. The pipeline being destroyed in the fire signified the end of their dairy farming, so they now currently crop farm their land. With the fire happening almost 100 years to the date of the original barn being built, losing the barn was hard on the family. The dairy farm was homesteaded by Tom’s grandparents in the early 1920s, his parents took it over in the 1950’s and then it became Tom and Mindy’s in 1998 and was where they raised their own family of two children and two grandchildren.

Northwood Garages helped with the clean-up and rebuilt the barn two months after the fire. Now the 32 ft x 124ft reconstructed barn proudly stands strong like a phoenix, proof of what strength, determination, faith and family can get you through. Mindy admitted that when they first rebuilt, they weren’t sure what to do with the barn.

“When we rebuilt, we just saw that it was so beautiful that we almost didn’t know what to do with it. We thought, “what can we do?” She added, “We didn’t intend for a wedding barn by any means when we started. We actually intended to keep animals in the barn, but it was just so neat that we started spending time up there and then we kept adding little things in and eventually it turned into this.”

The air-conditioned barn with two lofts is available to host weddings, birthday parties, class reunions, baby showers, and other events. The cost per large event is $4,000 if reserved before 2024 and includes the cost of the venue and clean up. Any large events booked after 2024 will cost $4500 and currently renters can bring in their own catering and drinks. The event space suggests no more than 250 people but there is space for up to 300 in the main area.

Mindy comments that the venue space is a work in progress, and they keep adding on as they go. “It’s a never-ending project, I’m sure,” she said and shared that in the future they may offer cabins for rent on the property. 

“The Good Lord works in mysterious ways,” Mindy mentioned that before the fire, Tom wasn’t a carpenter, but he became a driver for the construction crew after the fire and quickly improved his carpentry skills. He has since finished many projects for the venue including, building the bathroom stalls, a staircase, serving tables, staining the floors, and even constructing the bar with salvaged wood from the original barn.

“We added on little things as we went,” she stated.

 Mindy explained that they weren’t going to originally build bathrooms in the barn but decided to install bathrooms for convenience and to save on renting portable bathrooms. She shared that when it came time to name the venue, they couldn’t think of a name but were quickly inspired by their surroundings.

“We come up here every night and just sit. All of a sudden, we thought, the view, the sunset view. You sit out here and it’s just a beautiful sunset.”

The Symbals are excited to see what the future holds with their new event business and for their family. With the start of Symbal’s Sunset View and three new grandchildren on the way, life won’t be dull. For Tom and Mindy, life may have thrown them some challenges, but they are turning it into something beautiful.

For more information follow Symbal’s Sunset View on Facebook or call (715)829-0399.