CHESAPEAKE, VA. - It might be hard to believe that the Hickory Ridge Farm is back open for business today.
Some customers were surprised.
“I was expecting that there probably was going to be some strawberries," Kara Gavin, who brought her family, said. "I’d heard that they had a pretty good batch but I didn’t expect everything to be open.”
Everything from the playground to the animal was back.
Just a few weeks ago, a tornado destroyed part of the property off Battlefield Boulevard.
High winds damaged several buildings, the farm stand, and part of the animal pen.
Immediately after, the community took action.
For weeks leading up to the opening on Saturday, community members descended on the property removing debris helping get things back in order.
The farm's owner told News 3 Saturday was very busy.
“Today’s been really great," Owner Robin Pierce said. "We had a lot of pickers out earlier this morning and really – all day long. We’re pretty much picked out for the day.”
Colin Cunningham was one of the lucky ones to pick a full basket.
“I was picking strawberries and we got two baskets full of strawberries.They made a really good comeback is what I think. That storm literally just blew through that," Cunningham said.
But not everything is back to normal.
“The main thing as far as rebuilding is to finish the stand. We’ve got to enclose the back so that we have some coverage for our equipment but we can operate," Pierce said.
The stand should be fixed in a few days.
