After decades growing the business, Mark Craven (on left) has been slowly handing off his family farm to new owners Kimi and Brian Chadwick.
Tristan Halsen
SNOHOMISH — Craven Farm grew into a household name for the area. Understanding the impact Craven Farm has made in the community has been eye-opening to new owners Brian and Kimi Chadwick.
Originally the farm produced dairy and berries, but due to numerous floods the family decided to start growing and selling pumpkins in 1983. They created one of the first pumpkin patches in Snohomish.
Mark Craven bought the farm in the 1990s from his grandparents, who had started in 1949 as the Kreiger Berry/Dairy farm. Since then, Mark and Judy Craven have operated and maintained the farm, however, after slowing down and upon looking to retire, the Cravens began listening to offers to be the next owners of the legacy.
Those new owners came in 2018 when the Chadwicks found Mark and soon got in contact with him.
“I think it was time to find some young blood and fresh ideas and pass the farm on,” said Mark Craven during an interview.
Finding the right owners was a challenge for Craven, with some buyers looking to redevelop the farmland into a housing development.
When the Chadwicks came along and asked the right questions and seemed genuinely interested, Craven said he knew he’d found the right people. The Chadwicks were just the people that Mark had in mind: Having
some previous experience running concessions and hosting weddings, Brian and Kimi Chadwick were up for that task, but when it came to growing pumpkins they looked to Mark Craven for guidance.
The process of handing over the farm has been lengthy.
“It’s been kind of a gradual phase handing over the farm to us,” said Brian Chadwick, “The plan with Mark being here is to pass along his knowledge with crop rotations and the planning that goes into all the different aspects of farming.”
This farming knowledge has helped the new owners immensely. It’s something the Chadwicks intend on holding onto for future pumpkin seasons.
They intend on being here for a long time.
Web correction -June 23, 2022:
The wrong reporter's byline was accidentally copied into the online version of this story and the error was not realized for six months. The print version had the correct reporter byline. This update corrects the web version.
