Support pours in after Book Barn bombing

When vandals blew up a firework in the Jadeke family's free Book Barn earlier this month, Sarah Jadeke took to Facebook to express her disappointment. The explosion ruined all of the children's books on the bottom, and blew out the seams of the metal box, making it vulnerable to the weather and useless as a receptacle of free books in the future.

"To whoever did this, just remember, your mom liked stopping here for books. Your aunt, your uncle, your brother, your sister, your cousins, your neighbor all liked stopping here to look for or share books," she posted.

Sarah said the response to her Facebook post more than restored her faith in humanity. Some 121 comments later, people had commiserated, offered to help rebuild the book barn and donate money or books, and simply expressed their appreciation for the shared reading the Book Barn offers the community.

"After all those comments, I wasn't mad anymore," Sarah said. "I've got a lot more people who are going to support the Book Barn than are going to destroy it. That's usually how it is with everything, it just sucks that it had to be blown up."

There had been random fireworks set off at random late night hours in the city before the vandalism of the Book Barn, according to police department complaints and neighbors' recollections. Nearby resident Vicky Campbell guessed it happened around 4:30 a.m. June 4, when she heard a "big" bang and then a loud car leave in a hurry.

Featured in the Pine Knot News in November 2018, the Jadeke family - Sarah and Ryan, and kids Grant, Shelby and Gabe - started the Book Barn in July 2016 outside their home at the corner of Selmser Avenue and Sixth Street in Cloquet. After a wooden cabinet slowly decayed, they found a metal cabinet with upper and lower shelves to house the books: adult books up top, kids' books below, where they could reach. In 2018, they added a "kitchen cabinet," filled with nonperishable food items and additions from the family garden when available.

Since the explosion, the children's book section of the Book Barn has been out of commission. Sarah had emptied out the top "grownup" section to let it air out too, but found it full of books the next time she went to check.

She said the Book Barn and the nearby Kitchen Cabinet get a lot of use, and a lot of donations from other people.

Her mom, Joy Kennedy, is working on getting a new metal cabinet through a friend's company.

"I'm really excited because it took me so long to find that one - it was on an auction site that I just lucked out on," Sarah said.

Additionally, Sarah discovered an anonymous cash donation on her front deck earlier this month, which she will put toward the cost of a new Book Barn, or to buy new children's books to help fill it.

Once it's back up and running, people are welcome to donate their own gently used books.

The firework that exploded inside the Book Barn was probably illegal. While Minnesota state statute does allow possession and use of certain non-explosive and non-aerial consumer fireworks (such as sparklers, cones and tubes that emit sparks, and novelty items such as snakes and party poppers) it does not allow use of "anything that flies or explodes" for use by other than a certified fireworks operator.

Joy Kennedy is offering a $50 reward to anyone with information leading to the arrest of those who vandalized the Book Barn.