TAMPA, Fla. — A family-owned outdoor market has reopened after Hurricane Milton destroyed produce and other products.
Bearss Groves opened on Friday and will remain open until Halloween.
Owner Barry Lawrance said Hurricane Milton knocked out the power for nearly 5 days. He was forced to throw out meat, chicken and other products.
He donated the items he could like produce and fruit to Feeding Tampa Bay.
"The meats we all threw away and all the produce we donated to Feeding Tampa Bay so at least something good came out of it," he said.
Lawrance said the hurricane flooded their strawberry fields and destroyed a barn.
"Everything on our farm we lost, all of our plants, everything growing, our strawberry farm got crushed. We actually just finished planting strawberries yesterday so the strawberry farm will be back up and running so that's a plus," said Lawrance.
"We're going to do U-Pick strawberries pretty much every other weekend this year instead of just one weekend so that will be coming in December so we're going to slowly start rebuilding the farm," he said.
The largest pumpkin in Florida, weighing 868 pounds, is on display now. It arrived from Indiana.
"Actually we did have a larger pumpkin, but hurricane Helene trashed that guy up in North Carolina. We found this one out of Indiana, but this one’s pretty awesome too," he said.
Families came out to get photos with the large pumpkin. Janet Stante brought her grandchildren.
"They pick their pumpkins and then afterwards, we’re going to go home and carve their pumpkins. We’re going to bake cookies and decorate them so it’s an annual event for our family," she said.
Lawrance is appreciative of the community's support and encourages people to check out their Facebook page for the latest information.
"It’s pretty cool to see faces. It does hurt a little bit for people to come in and not see the produce and the items they’re use to buying and they’re not available right now so that’s kind of a little disheartening for us. I think they understand what we’re going through as well," he said.
Bearss Groves is located at 14316 Lake Magdalene Boulevard in Tampa.
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