Just days after fire gutted a barn at Snyders Family Farm, the couple who owns the popular attraction southwest of Cambridge says they will rebuild.
Firefighters battled the blaze for hours on Saturday afternoon, called in after a neighbour spotted thick smoke around 1:15 p.m. It continued to smolder into Monday.
The barn that was destroyed housed the popular ‘Fear Farm’ haunted house for 20 years, and was filled with seasonal props.
Owners John and Meghan Snyder were at home about to bathe their new son when they noticed the smoke, which was so thick at first they thought is was fog.
But 48 hours later they are thanking all those who helped them get through a tough day and say they will rebuild.
“It’s hard to imagine this is what we’re doing on Monday, a week after our son was born. It’s mind-blowing really,” Meghan says.
The couple is busy filling out paperwork for insurance and taking calls from friends, family and customers who share their loss.
Meghan says “It was really clear that the barn meant a lot to people and those emails and comments have helped us so much today, it really does mean a lot.”
And while you can’t replace the memories, they are looking forward to making new ones.
They are hoping to be able to start the cleanup as soon as possible, especially with Christmas tree sales just two weeks away.
And John’s already looking ahead to Halloween 2013, thinking about how to rebuild, without trying to recreate the one-of-a-kind character of the old barn.
“It’ll be a push, but we’ll get there,” John says. He’s hoping he can even salvage some of the charred wood for the new scary site.
“We’re just going to keep going,” Meghan adds. “It’s what we have to do.”
