The wet weather this week has created a muddy situation for two businesses in the Lumsden area.
After kicking off their season last week, Happy Hollow will be closed this weekend. The road leading to the corn maze is impassable after four days of rain.
“It is extremely disappointing for us,” said Tiffany Schaefer, Happy Hollow owner. “Last year, we were only open for six days of the two months that we were supposed to be open, but it’s okay, it’s the nature of the beast, I guess, and we just roll with it, but hopefully warmer weather is to come.”
Happy Hollow improved the road to the corn maze four years ago, but it’s still a seasonal road that doesn’t do well in wet conditions.
Schaefer said the RM of Lumsden has done a great job of maintaining the grid for them.
“We get so many suggestions – pave it, gravel it, but at what cost, it’s so expensive – but the fact that they do come out and grade it for us is very helpful,” she said.
The rain is also putting a damper on harvest at the Lincoln Gardens as they deal with muddy fields.
“It really slows you up, it takes twice as long to do everything and everything needs to be washed more and that takes longer, so it is time consuming and it’s a lot harder to work working in mud every day,” said Wayne Gienow, Lincoln Gardens owner.
Despite less than ideal conditions, Gienow said their haul out of the garden has been excellent this year.
“It’s actually been really good and demand has been very high,” he said. “Especially on the cucumber crop, I’ve never had a higher demand for cucumbers, everybody’s been telling me that their cucumbers just didn’t produce and they’ve been coming here and we’ve been really slammed.”
A few days of warm weather this weekend should improve conditions for Lincoln Gardens to speed up their harvest and it will also clear up the road for Happy Hollow, allowing them to open for next weekend.
