02/19/2026
Good morning everyone! Today our family is finally ready to talk a little bit more to the community about this heart breaking loss of our barn, what we need and where we are heading.
The most important thing we want all of our friends, family and community to know is that everyone in our family is OK. We also want everyone to know that all of our immediate needs have been met. Horses and animals all have shelters, food, etc. With the communities help, we have had the need for farm supplies and horse tack taken care of.
With that being said, it has been very difficult for us to see that barn, the heartbeat of the homestead, burn to the ground. Its was one of the first structures raised and housed the majority of things our farm needed to both take care of our animals and serve as a gathering place for us and so many events Cavanaughs Carriages hosted. Anyone who had a private event in the party room/harness shop, attended our haunted hay rides rides, came for Sleigh rides with Santa, fall pumpkin patch rides, and school field trips have all had special memories that were shared in that barn. That building shaped our families future and our business over that last 50 years. We sold tickets for events out of it, allowed people to meet animals upclose, get spooked with haunted, share refreshments, learn about animals, how to care for them, watch the team of horses get harnessed, and meet Santa upclose. We know this isn't just sad for our family, but the whole community. Jan and Rodger made the community their family and just wanted everyone to share a taste of the west, the old way, which was both of their passions.
We continually remind ourselves, that although the loss was more than we can ever explain, alll the beautiful memories still remain and the purpose of who we are as a family and business all still remain the same.
We have some very large thank you's and deep gratitude we want to express for the hands that helped us over the weekend.
First, we want to thank the fire departments who reaponded: town of Clayton, town wi******er, town of Greenville, town of vinland, city of neenah town of fox crossings and Winnebago county police department. They were all quick to respond and handled the situation very well. Without you, we would have lost so much more, the fire was almost to the goat enclosure and the mine shaft. Your quick response saved other animals and other structures.
Second, the outreach from our community, past customers, friends, and our family has been nothing short of amazing. Even when we were too overwhelmed to respond, people just showed up at the farm to share stories, bring meals, donate money and gift cards and anything they thought we needed for tack and farm needs. We are the family that helps everyone without a question, so being on the opposite side of this...well thats a whole experience in itself.
The community wants to help and as difficult as it is to accept help, we realize that the community wants to be part of our journey. Again our immediate needs have been met, but we will need help again soon. Here are a few things that are on our mind and that we Will need in the near future.
*We will need help for clean up of the old barn in the future. We cannot do anything now because of insurance. We will make a post and reach out when this phase is ready.
*Although we have insurance, its not going to cover all that we lost. Its heartwarming to see that every single person who encountered Cavanaughs Carriages and our family, wants to see it all restored and have their hands in bringing it back. So we are in the process of making a go fund me page, that will be released very soon. Anything that is donated will go towards these items:
animal feed, fixing other structures that had some light fire damage, the new barn we raise, horse bridals, harnesses for our teams of horses, saddles, animal cages, horse tack, feed buckets, water hydrant supplies, shovels, rakes, wheelborrows and any other supplies we lost.
Thank You all so very much❤️
Cody Cavanaugh Jessica Cavanaugh Jan Cavanaugh
