SUMNER, Wash. — In the last four years, Knutson Farms has become one of the South Sound hot spots for families, with its festive pumpkin patches, Christmas tree farms, and flower festivals.
But as KIRO 7′s Frankie Katafias will tell you, there’s a lot more history to Knutson Farms than you may know. Underneath all of the tinsel, trees, and holiday festivities sits a historic Sumner farm with roots in the community deeper than the tulips and rhubarb they grow.
“I feel lucky,” said the owner of Knutson Farms, Roger Knutson. “I don’t know if I’m that smart or that lucky but it’s worked out and it’s fun to see people come out and enjoy the farm.”
Roger Knutson is the current owner of the farm. His father Harold bought the farm in 1955 after working on it for nearly a decade. Roger was born, raised, and running the farm since 1944.
“It’s a totally different experience or business that we’re doing now versus what we did 20 to 30 years ago,” he said.
Once upon a time, Knutson Farms was the nation’s leading distributor of tulips, daffodils, rhubarb, and an international distributor of iris. But like any industry, farmers have had to change with the times and growing technology just to survive.
“We had to change or we wouldn’t be here,” said Roger Knutson. “If I kept growing iris I would’ve been broke many years ago and same with daffodils.”
The structure, now the Christmas tree building, was built in 1949 by Roger’s father. For several years it was used for processing tulip bulbs from the field and after turning into an event space of sorts, the former packaging room connected to it became a year-round flower and gift shop.
“We love people and we love farming so to see that come together and having people smiling and enjoying and being able to take home goods that are high quality, I mean that’s the joy of what keeps us going around here,” said Knutson Farms worker Jordan Whittington.
But the work to host special events and carry the fresh farm-grown goods takes careful consideration.
“It is constant what would people enjoy today? What part of this is still relevant today? Because it is still relevant but making it enjoyable and appealing to a younger generation of people,” Whittington said.
But bringing in the community to make memories of their own is something Roger sees his father’s farm surviving for years to come.
“People come out and seem to have a good time and that makes me smile,” he said. “If they’re smiling when they’re driving out, then I’m smiling.”
One person Roger wishes he could see smiling too? His father.
“Oh, I can’t tell you how many times I wish he’d come back for a day to see everything,” Roger said. “He’d say holy cow. He’d be happy.”
Now Knutson’s Holiday Farm is closing on December 23 but you can find yourself a gift any time of year in their flower shop found out front.