John Washington is proud of the family atmosphere that Washington Farms provides for its customers. “My wife and I have always worked with kids and we’ve always been real pro-family. We are making memories at Washington Farms. That’s our motto type thing and we want the families to come out and have a good time,” Washington said. Photo by Nicholas Byrne.
By KARLA DOUGAN – Broadcast Staff
It is Autumn in Athens. Each year, Clarke Central High School students and their families alike follow the tradition of going to Washington Farms in Watkinsville, Ga. to celebrate the fall season.
The farm features a pumpkin patch, a corn maze and a petting zoo among many other activities. But it wasn’t always this way. The farm started out as a small rental property where customers could pick strawberries in the Spring.
“(In) 1993 we opened the farm, we started the farm, and we leased six acres of land ‘cause we didn’t have any money,” Washington Farms owner John Washington said. “So I went and talked to a farmer who happened to have pick-your-own strawberries so we started with a 4 acre pick your own strawberry farm and it just grew from there.”
In the third year of business the strawberries were wiped out by a late freeze. That is when the idea for a pumpkin farm was born.
“We diversified into pumpkins our third year and then now we’ve kept diversifying,” Washington said. “We’ve added the corn maze, we’ve added all the agro-tourism stuff back at the back of the farm just to protect ourselves from the weather that we can’t control.”
Customer Terri Cloakey says she enjoys all the farm has to offer.
“It’s been great,” Cloakey said, “We’ve already played the corn-hole and we’ve been playing with the checkers and we went on all the games and we are waiting for other people to join us to do the corn maze.”
The staff also enjoy doing their jobs.
“It’s a really great atmosphere. The people are really nice. The customers are also really nice and it’s just it’s a fun atmosphere for everyone,” staff member Hallie Parks said.
Washington Farms has grown significantly over the years and will continue to expand in the future. The farm is a popular place to be in the fall for parents taking children to pick pumpkins, or high-schoolers going through the corn maze at night.
“Ever since we’ve opened we’ve had people tell us ‘thank you’ for bringing this to Oconee County,” Washington said. “It really provides a great family atmosphere. I mean you’ll see families out there picking strawberries or picking blackberries and there’s no TV going, there’s no radio, there’s no Playstation. They’re talking, having fun as a family.”
