Four score and five years ago the Hawkes family brought forth to our community a farm stand located off Route 302 in Windham; dedicated to providing fresh produce and treating all patrons local and afar with equal service. Fast forward to 2015 when the Hawkes made the difficult decision that it was time to close their stand for good. With thoughts of expanding the number of locations, Tomi and Elaine Chipman immediately approached the family to propose renting the popular summer location.
With failed efforts, the stand lay dormant for a year. Persistence
triumphed and this time around, the purchasing of the property seemed the only
other option. Chipman now owns the iconic spot which opened for business over
the Fourth of July weekend.
As
for Florence Hawkes, she was glad to see this site remain a farm stand. “When
they first approached us we didn’t want to sell and were not willing to rent so
we declined their offer. When they contacted us earlier this year we changed
our decision and put the site up for sale.” Truth is that the Hawkes were so
accommodating as to let the stand open before the paperwork was done and the
sale final. “I told them they could open the stand and I wouldn’t charge them
any rent for two weeks while details were being ironed out.” That leniency
would be extended but it wouldn’t be long before the stand was theirs.
The
general consensus is that those who waited for something good to happen and had
since noticed activity, were pleased the property was being used, especially to
continue as a farm stand. Though the growing season was relatively early, the
choices of produce continued to grow (pun intended) as the summer progressed.
John
from Westbrook has always been a regular. “I have been coming here when it was
Hawkes for as long as I can remember.” His return is inevitable. “Absolutely, as long as the variety is good I
will continue as I always have to stop here.”
Tim
Chute, a very distant relative of the owners of Chute’s Breakfast in Windham
expressed his thoughts on this, the forth Chipmans location. “We’re local,
they’re local. It’s all part of that local feel for knowing where what you
consume is coming from.” Of course he was referring to the raw milk that he
delivers from a local dairy right here in Windham.
Pat
Foster, from Massachusetts had been stopping every year for a decade, on his
way to vacation in the Lakes Region. “I was surprised and disappointed to find
it closed up last year. It was sort of a tradition to stop here both coming and
going.” Now that it is open, Foster couldn’t be happier. “I’m really pleased to
see another farm took it over. The tradition continues!”
If
there is any caveat that wasn’t previously expressed when it was Hawkes, it has
to be the traffic. While it is fruitful to business the noise levels are a bit
much to get used to. “Sometimes we have to yell over each other to carry on a
conversation with customers,” according to college student Sarah Sanville who
has been working for the farm for some time. But that is a small price to pay.
“Almost every person that comes in here expresses how elated they are we are
here. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard, ‘oh my gosh! I’m so glad the
stand is opened back up!’ They love it,” continued Sanville.
We
knew people would be glad we’re here because of the reputation Hawkes had for
so many years. We knew we would get local business but it has been
overwhelmingly a success. It has been above expectations. Everyone is delighted
that the stand is once again open and can still get fresh produce that is
picked same day,” expressed Elaine Chipman.
With
enough grown on their 65 acre farm supplying this new location, no doubt it is
here to stay. In fact there is talk of perhaps expanding the site. That is
something that is a couple years down the road.
“There’s long term plans to build a bigger stand by taking down this one
down and putting up a bigger stand.” For now they are taking it one season at a
time.
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