Today, Blake’s is a 1,000-acre farm and orchard, growing more than 40 apple varieties and other crops, including pumpkins, strawberries, raspberries, tomatoes and sweet corn. “That’s one of our strong points as a family - we try to be innovative.” “In order to stay relevant as agritainment, you have to diversify to keep the public interested and coming back,” Peter Blake says. Later in the decade and beyond, Halloween-esque amenities, including a haunted attraction, haunted hayride and Zombie Paintball, became staples of fall entertainment. And then they planted acres of Christmas trees, beginning a cut-your-own tree tradition. In the early 1980s, Blake’s added a petting farm. With those moves, the family business took a positive turn. “It was part of our philosophy of being family oriented and promoting family values.” “We wanted to let people come out and pick the prime stuff,” says Paul Blake, a second-generation family member and co-owner. At the time, most farmers only allowed the public to come in and pick after the best fruit had been harvested. The Blakes also opened up their orchards to customers, allowing them to pick their own apples. So, in 1968, Blake’s built and opened a cider mill on their farm, a move that allowed Gerald Blake to give up his full-time job as a tool and die maker for Chrysler and devote his attention full time to the farm. They noticed, too, that with more and more people moving into the suburbs, there was a yearning to return to farming roots and agricultural experiences. What we didn’t know, we didn’t know.”Īndrew Blake, a third-generation family member who runs the company with his dad, mom, uncle and other family members, said his grandparents realized operating a commodities farm wasn’t going to work financially for such a large family. Our parents kind of sheltered us from economic woes during that time. “The first 20 years on the farm were not financially successful. “It was a difficult time, something we didn’t really realize,” recalls Peter Blake, second generation and co-owner who cut his teeth driving bushels of apples and sweet corn to Detroit’s Eastern Market and a grocery chain warehouse. That first season, the family lost their apple crop because of frost, one of a series of setbacks endured over the years. In a three-bedroom farmhouse in Armada, Gerald and Elizabeth “Lovey” Blake raised their 13 children while tending to a 100-acre farm with orchards of apples and fields of sweet corn. It’s available on tap as well.īlake’s began as a family venture, the relocation of mom, dad and children from Detroit to the country. The new cider pays tribute to the family’s apple orchard roots with a base of dessert apples combined with hints of cinnamon and vanilla. To commemorate the family’s milestone, Blake’s has released a limited-edition Apple Pie Hard Cider, available in its Fall Bushel of Blakes, a dozen 12-ounce cans of a variety of the company’s autumn-inspired hard ciders. “The farm and apple orchards started it all in 1946, and, over the years, that expanded to year-round attractions, experiences and events that is now a tradition for many families and we are honored to create those memories for generations.” “We are especially excited to mark our family’s 75th year anniversary and welcome our returning and first-time guests to our properties this fall,” said Andrew Blake, president of the Blake Family of Companies. And this fall is especially apt because the family enterprise is celebrating a milestone anniversary. With its cider press in full operation and trees laden with apples, fall is an ideal time to visit Blake’s Orchard and Cider Mill.
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