MARYSVILLE Its not the swan song for the Pig Out on the Farm, but the orchestra is tuning its strings, at least for another year, according to the owners of Beringer Farms.
The 360-acre farm has been a community highlight and tent pole for 76 years of Strawberry Festivals, but sits on property owned by the Port of Everett since 1993. The port bought the property from owners Mike and Diana Beringer to use for wetlands mitigation. The port plans to develop some of its waterfront properties and must replace wetlands that are damaged or impacted by creating more, somewhere close by.
Beringer said she has been notified that they have until the end of July 2008 to stay on the family home, meaning they have one more Strawberry Festival at the current location.
But the show will go on, she vowed, even if it means going on the road. The Beringers have already planted new fields in Arlington and will be ready to host visitors there once the Smith Island fields are flooded to create habitat for fish and fowl.
As of now, thats what they know, Diana Beringer said last week.
She and her husband have steeled themselves for the change for some time. During the early 1990s they were burdened with debt and approached the port with the idea of selling the land and then leasing it back. The Port of Everett bit on the idea and plans to use the farm for a wetlands mitigation bank, according to spokeswoman Lisa Mandt. The port has contracted with a Marysville firm to complete the work, and Wildlands of Washington will oversee the actual breaching of the dikes and any planting or other work. They can also function as a broker for trading the new wetlands acreage with other builders, according to Mandt. Builders impacting wetlands on their projects must replace those affected acres elsewhere, by creating new wetlands or paying someone else to. Once created the mitigation credits are a commodity.
We can also sell the credits as well, Mandt explained.
While the Beringers will decamp to Arlington after next summer, the Marysville Strawberry Festival will not let them go, Beringer said. She asked a friend on the Maryfest board if they would still be welcome and Beringer was told there was no way they were getting away.
A change of pace might be needed as she and her husband advance in years. Mike told her early on during their courtin days that he would always be a farmer and that he never wanted to retire.
Our goal is to scale back, Beringer said. We want to slow down now.
That doesnt mean the parting will be as sweet as her farms berries but as she listened to the crowds hooting and having fun on the farm, she shrugged.
I let go of this farm in 93 when we sold it, Beringer said.