When Chaney’s Dairy Barn opened two decades ago, South Warren High School had not been constructed and the business was surrounded by farmland.

Now, as Bowling Green continues its southward growth, the popular ice cream and dairy products business is expanding its capacity to keep up with demand.

Chaney’s was presented with a $250,000 loan at 2.75% interest from the Kentucky Agricultural Development Board on Friday. Carl Chaney, the dairy farmer who owns the business, said this loan and several grants will help fund the expansion project.

“This area is exploding,” Chaney said. “We’ve got all those extra people that will be in this area that could possibly come into the dairy barn.”

He said the business has received a $50,000 grant with matching funds available, and a $60,000 economic development grant as well.

“We’re getting a few little things to help us with what we’re doing,” Chaney said.

According to a Daily News article on the expansion from July 23, 2023, the dairy barn sold 4,500 gallons of ice cream the year it opened. In 2022, its ice cream sales totaled 30,000 gallons.

“After being in this business for 20 years, we have learned so much,” Chaney said in the article. “This (expansion) is going to help us serve our customers better and faster.”

Chaney said the $2.6 million expansion will effectively double the size of the dairy barn, which currently occupies 10,000 square feet. He said the addition will house the business’s ice cream making section and will be “glassed in” so customers can watch the ice cream being prepared.

Along with the loan presented Friday, the business is researching funds available from the Kentucky Department of Agriculture that are available “for people that are producing a product like we do.”

Jonathan Shell, Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture, visited the dairy barn for a tour on Friday and to present the loan to Chaney. Chaney said though the business has been visited by several television shows since opening, having the AG commissioner visit is “great for us.”

“It’s really neat,” Chaney said. “We’ve been so fortunate to get a lot of exposure.”

In a speech during the Ag Awareness Breakfast at the National Corvette Museum on Friday, Shell said there is a “great story” with Chaney and his business.

“What Carl Chaney and his family have done is unbelievable,” Shell said.