In Queer Eye's fourth season, the Fab Five meet a farmer undergoing huge personal and professional transitions. Matt is recently divorced, and trying to find new ways to make money with his farm after being forced to sell his cows. When the guys leave him, he has a few ideas in the works, but today, you can visit Matt's Red Barn Ranch to see how they've come to fruition.
According to its official website, the ranch is located just north of Harrisonville, Missouri, which is about 40 minutes away from Kansas City. You can enjoy the pumpkin patch Matt showed off during his episode, which has 32 different varieties of homegrown pumpkins. You can buy one for 50 cents a pound or 75 cents each for mini varieties.
Matt's farm also has a number of family and kid-oriented activities that look downright adorable. He advertises corn pits with slides, swing sets made from old farm equipment, pumpkin bowling, an antique tractor barn, corn hole, mini-golf, a two-acre corn maze, and more. You can get up close and personal with the animals on the farm, too — for 50 cents a cup you can buy food to give the pigs and goats, and there's even a family of alpacas roaming the property. It sounds like a lovely day trip.
Part of why Bobby and the rest of the Fab Five saw so much potential in the farm is because of the special events that could be held there. Matt seems to have leaned into those possibilities — there's a page on his website that says the Red Barn Ranch is available for weddings, corporate gatherings, birthday parties, family reunions, photo shoots, field trips, and other private events.
Matt also says you can bring your dog as long as it's on a leash, and you can pack your own picnic to eat in addition to browsing the food and drink selection they have available. He's also insistent that the Red Barn Ranch is a work in progress. "Please check back for updates," the website reads. "We love your input. If you have information you'd like us to include on the website, or a great idea for the farm, please feel free to message me." We stan a collaborative Queer Eye hero!
Honestly, if Matt keeps it up, Red Barn Ranch could become a very lucrative business. It's a beautiful property that's perfect for weddings and special events, and there's been an uptick in farmstead weddings in recent years. According to a survey from wedding planning website The Knot, 15% of couples chose a farm, barn, or ranch wedding reception venue in 2017, up from just 2% in 2009.
And the people running the farms say it's a great way to make money. Farm owner Ron Mellon told MyFarmLife.com that he charges anywhere from $500 to $5,900 for weddings and events to be held on his property, making it his family's main source of income. "We've always been in farming, but the wedding business is paying our bills … even though we don't have a whole lot of bills," he said.
From what we saw on Queer Eye, Matt was eager to turn Red Barn Ranch into a full-fledged business with multiple revenue streams. As he says himself, the farm is still a work in progress, but it sounds like he's well on his way to making it successful — and worth a visit.
