LEAVENWORTH, Wash. — Tourists come all year to Leavenworth Reindeer Farm.
The farm shut down in March when the first round of COVID-19 mandates went into place. It opened again a few months ago when outdoor recreation was allowed under the phased approach to reopening the state.
But this week, they received another blow.
Gov. Jay Inslee placed a new set of mandates on agritourism last week. That’s when a farm attracts visitors to generate income.
Now some businesses that depend on agritourism think the new set of rules are too strict and will cause some businesses to close down for good.
“It just kind of feels like we’re going backwards... when we were hopefully getting this over with,” said Erika Bowie, the general manager of Leavenworth Reindeer Farm.
“This is a little bit of a sucker punch to farms,” Bowie said.
Inlsee’s new set of mandates impacts agritourism and targets farms just like the Bowies'.
Their farm is located in Chelan County, which is in modified Phase 1, pushing any possible reopening date even farther out.
Animal viewing and petting are what the reindeer farm operates on.
“You’re not even allowed to view animals, let alone pet them. On our farm, where we free-range many of our animals, it makes it basically impossible to open up even a small portion of our business,” Bowie said.
They’re open year-round, giving tours in the spring and summer when reindeer calves are born.
The big season is winter. They have 20,000 visitors in the eight weeks around the holidays, bringing in a bulk of their income.
“I know for our Christmas wish, if Santa’s listening, is to be open for the holiday season,” Bowie said.
They run by appointment only and have made changes to help with social distancing, but that's not enough.
“Right now, we’re facing a $10,000 fine for each day that we’re open,” she said.
The farm was closed down immediately and they’re giving refunds to visitors who had their reservations canceled.
With no visitors, there’s no income.
“There’s things like feed cost and vet care and labor costs associated with taking care of the reindeer,” she said. “I don’t even know how to put it into words, the fact that I worry about if our family can pay our bills because we can’t work. That’s all we want to do is get out on the farm and work and do what we love.”
The farm set up a GoFundMe page to help bring in money for the necessities. No matter the donation size, they’re giving a ticket to whoever gives money for when they’re back open. They also started a farm sponsorship program, and a reindeer "adoption" program, where supporters can donate and get updates about individual animals.
“It’s just really a way to make sure that these animals continue to be cared for when we can’t have visitors on the farm,” she said.