One of the worst things that can happen to anyone is watching the things you love go up in flames. But during and after the fire at in Beaverton, owners Lori and Jeff Hedrick found they were being looked after.
Corey Adkins explains in this week’s Northern Michigan in Focus.
“At 11:48 there was someone pounding on our door and they were going to break down the door. We were coming out of the house and she was screaming, ‘Your barn is on fire!’” explained Lori.
Imagine complete strangers pounding on your door in the middle of the night screaming your livelihood was on fire. Enter guardian angel No. 1.
“They kept screaming at us, ‘Tell us what to get out of the barn,’ and, of course, you’re tired and confused, and I was like, wait, barn 1 is on fire, and there are no animals in barn 1,” said Lori.
Luckily, no animals were in immediate danger. 911 was called and the first responders did what they do.
They were the Hedrick’s second guardian angel.
“They even parked their fire truck between our house and the flames; I don’t know if that is typical, but that led me to believe that my house was their first priority. Four departments came together and did what had to be done, and between the lady and the firefighters they saved our farm,” explained Lori.
The fire was out, and The Wild Pumpkin was devastated. Then, guardian angel No. 3 hit the scene.
“Employees were on it right away. They were standing with us watching, it was Beaverton’s homecoming on Friday and Saturday and we had orders for over 500 doughnuts. It was all hands on deck. They said, ‘We got this,’” said Lori. “My Painted Pumpkin employees, they showed up with a lot of pumpkins. One lady said she stayed up all night painting because she said I knew you would need pumpkins to sell, incredible.”
Even from McBain called.
“They called and told me, ‘Pick all the pumpkins you want out of my field and sell them, no cost,’” said Lori.
With all these guardian angels looking after the Jeff and Lori at The Wild Pumpkin, they were able to open the very next day. All the animals were fine and they still had thousands of pumpkins, and are ready for you to make a memory for your family at their farm.
They just have one last miracle they’d like to pull off: If you were the couple or know the couple who was on Beaverton Road at 11:48 p.m. on Sept. 21, 2018, please stop by The Wild Pumpkin and say hi to Lori and Jeff. They really want to thank you.
“She did something incredible; she gets brownie points the rest of her life. Not only does it affect our employees, it affects our customers that come here every year to make memories. This is our 18th year, so we have been doing this a little while and people like it and they make family memories.”
Wild story, right?
“My guardian angel pulled in that night and I don’t know if I’ll ever meet her, but she’s pretty special.”
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