SHAVERTOWN, Pa. — Sophia Dessoye, age 6, of Avoca, had a ball visiting the animals inside the barn at The Lands at Hillside Farms on Tuesday.
This was a soft opening for the farm. Wednesday marks its official reopening since Luzerne County moved to the governor's yellow phase.
"I really miss seeing the cows and getting ice cream, and I missed seeing all the animals too," Sophia said.
But Sophia's mother, Elizabeth Dessoye, says this is visit is about much more than the ice cream.
"The teachers in her school have been doing a great job with continuing to teach, but the life experience to be able to come see something like this, for her just to get outside the walls of our house and outside of our yard, it's great that she can experience something like this so close to home."
Chet Mozloom, executive director of The Lands at Hillside Farms, says he's relieved to be reopening.
"Being in red was torture because we had just opened our mercantile building. It was open for just a couple days after years of construction work and inventory, and we had to shut it down."
But Mozloom said there were some who didn't mind the shutdown.
"The cows loved quarantine; it was super quiet, less traffic the weather's been relatively cool, I mean they're loving it."
But he's happy to be able to welcome customers and visitors back for trips to The Lands at Hillside Farms.