By Celeste Baumgartner

Ohio Correspondent

HAMILTON, Ohio – The parking lot looks as busy as Kings Island, but it’s not. It’s Brown’s Family Farm Market. Pumpkins catch your eye first – they’re everywhere. There are also mums, gourds, fall plants, people taking hayrides and lots of happy faces.

Joyce and John Brown started growing sweet corn for sale in 1986 and opened Brown’s Family Farm Market in 1990. It has ballooned. Based on the number of transactions, about 5,000 people come on a fall weekend.

“For me, it is all about affordable entertainment for families in these tough times,” John Brown said. “We love it. We’re a family organization, and we want families to come and have a good time. Look at the smiles on the kids’ faces; that’s what it’s about.”

Added Joyce: “It is beyond our wildest dreams. I first started having school programs in 1988. We had 5,000 to 6,000 kids come in October. When COVID hit, we quit doing school programs and focused on the family farm. People are coming here who, as babies, had their pictures taken out in the pumpkin patch. Now they’re bringing their babies.”

Brown’s is a family operation. Daughters Jessica Brown Kemper and Jamie Brown Watts help part-time during the busy seasons. Jody Brown Boyd is full-time at the market. Grandkids are pitching in everywhere.

“The grandkids have learned so much about responsibility and how to do things, loading wagons,” Joyce said. “They have been counting cantaloupes since they were babies. They go to kindergarten and know their numbers. They know how to make change; I never taught them how to use the register change return. They had to count the money back. This, to me, is the American dream.”

A lot of work and planning goes into making that American dream work. Boyd runs the farm market and greenhouse day-to-day operation. When COVID hit, their sales almost doubled.

“We had to get newer, more efficient checkout systems,” she said. “On the weekends, we’ll have four checkouts instead of two. Also, we’ve expanded the sales display area, especially in the fall. I try to keep it focused and not just scattered displays. It is not just pumpkins thrown everywhere. It takes a lot of thought.

“We want everything to be picturesque so we work hard at maintaining all of this,” Boyd said. “We’ve built a very high maintenance monster.”

Inventory management is also a challenge, Boyd said. They bring in a lot of items every week and have acquired tents for storage. John Brown goes to four or five Amish auctions every week looking for products. In the spring, they offer a wealth of bedding and garden plants. COVID expanded all of that.

“All of a sudden, we were the ‘in’ place to be,” Boyd said. “We’re outdoors; we’re small, we’re local, we’re a mom-and-pop owned, so customers liked that they were supporting local farmers, local business, eating healthier. We have plants; everybody wanted to do gardening. The gardening industry boomed in 2020.”

The gardening people became aware that Brown’s was a place where they could shop for pumpkins in the fall. That fall, people shopping for pumpkins became aware that this was a good spot for plants. Others have learned about Brown’s because of Boyd’s attention to social media, primarily Facebook.

“Social media is very important,” she said. “It is free advertising. You have to monitor and watch it very closely. You have to be responsive to customer questions and comments. You can’t just randomly put a post out here and there.”

Social media posting seems a contrast with John Brown’s antique farm machinery displayed throughout the farm, a combine that kids can climb into and slide out of, even hayrides. Yet it all draws visitors. And there is never a charge for admittance or parking.

“We had a discussion several years ago about admission,” Watts said. “Our mother said she never wanted to charge admission because when our parents started these businesses, they had three little girls. They couldn’t always afford to go places; she wanted all families to be able to come and have a farm experience.”

On a recent sunny October Sunday, many families did just that. Melinda and Greg Watson were pumpkin shopping with a nephew, Easton Howard, and grandsons Kayson and Elijah Watson.

“We’re just coming here for family fun,” Melinda said. “We wanted to get out of the house and enjoy the nice weather.”

Added Greg: “I think it is great; very convenient, very family friendly.”