A popular Chatham-Kent tourist destination is closed for the season after an aggressive thunderstorm.
Warriner Hat Trick Farms, located in Blenheim, has been forced to close its tulip farm after Saturday's hail ruined the fields.
Paul Warriner, who helps run the family farm, noted there was a field full of patrons when the storm moved through the area.
"What we thought was just going to be a good, quick 20-minute rain turned into about 10 to 15 minutes of hail," said Warriner.
The entire field, made up of 300,000 to 350,000 tulips, saw some form of damage.
"Most of the flowers had petals knocked off and had shredded up some of the leaves," Warriner continued. "It was very difficult to find stems that weren't damaged somehow."
It's not the first time hail has caused problems for the family farm. According to Warriner, a tobacco field was ruined in the past due to inclement weather. However, the farmer mentioned this is the first time this has happened to one of their tulip fields.
"This is our eighth season growing tulips, and we've always considered them to be an extremely hardy plant. We've had hard, hard frost, and we've had 4 inches of snow when they were flowering, and they've come through that fine, but yeah, hail is a different beast," said Warriner.
Financially, this has hit the farm hard. Hat Trick Farms has closed for the rest of the tulip season and has issued refunds to those who had pre-purchased tickets.
"About two-thirds of the revenue from this crop season was lost," Warriner explained. "Our focus now is the bulbs that are in the ground and protecting what's left of the leaves and trying to keep disease out of the field and make sure that the bulbs that are in the ground are still going to be viable and healthy for us."
Warriner remains optimistic that the tulip fields will be back in all of their glory next year.
