Don Crego’s father used to sit on a bench among the mums at his family farm.
“Dad always said it was a nice place to get married,” Don said.
The mums are long gone, but, when Don’s daughter, Sara, announced she was getting married and wanted the venue to be the family farm, he decided to build her a chapel in the same location.
He enlisted the help of family friend Larry Allen, who designed the structure, and began construction this past June. He finished the project Sunday Sept. 12.
“I didn’t think he would go so extravagant,” Sara said.
“He had to do it for his little farm girl,” said Tamara, Sara’s mom.
The 10-by-10 structure includes a tongue and groove pine floor taken from the barn, lumber from the old sawmill on Church Road (cut by family friend Mike Stock, owner of Logs to Lumber) and a new bell.
According to Tamara, there is a Baldwinsville legend regarding the Crego bell.
“A bunch of college kids stopped by the farm to see if they could find the old Crego bell,” she said, noting that the family had never heard of the bell. “The kids said that one fraternity would steal the bell from another, but it was lost. We’ve never seen a bell, but now we have a new Crego bell.”
While the chapel was built for Sara’s wedding (to Joshua Kerrick) held this past Saturday, the family plans to get more use from the structure. Don said they’ll decorate it during their pumpkin season (they sell pumpkins at their farm on East Sorrell Hill Road) for people to take pictures, and they may eventually put in a swing to sit on when he and his wife grow old.
Don Crego, right, stands with his daughter Sara in front of a chapel he built for her wedding held this past Saturday on the family’s farm in Van Buren.
