Smiling Hill Farm Brings Smiles to Many

Westbrook, ME – Smiling Hill Farm in Westbrook, Maine has finally been able to loosen some of their restrictions that they had to put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The farm altered their rules and regulations, including requiring appointments to enter and having a cap on the amount of people allowed to enter, back in March of 2020. These restrictions meant less overall revenue for the farm, making tending the over 500 acres of land and the abundance of animals more difficult. Just when things started to become dire, the distribution of the COVID vaccine allowed the tourist attraction to finally return to some sort of normalcy. Both visitors and employees are hesitant to get comfortable with this, however. Rising cases in the state and the threat of another wave of the disease on the horizon spells out an uncertain future for the farm.

In the meantime, Smiling Hill Farm has enjoyed a busy fall season, with visitors coming from all over the state to soak up the Autumn weather and see the many animals on display. For a low price, people can approach the animals, pet them, and even feed them. This unique experience allows guests to put themselves in the shoes of real farmers and get one-on-one interaction with a variety of different animals, including sheep, goats, and even alpaca.

The feeding can be accomplished through stations that are distributed throughout the farm. At these stations, guests can exchange quarters for feed that is dispensed in pellet form. Little touches like this are what make Smiling Hill stand apart from similar establishments. There is very little separation between visitors and the animals. Where normally it would be discouraged to reach through into animal confines to pet them, at Smiling Hill Farm it is encouraged. There are even areas where goats and sheep are able to roam freely amongst humans. If you spend enough time in these areas, you are likely to be approached by more than a couple different barnyard critters.

Bigger animals like goats and sheep are not the only creatures to be featured here. Rabbits, ferrets, chinchillas, and chickens are around in their own enclosures. Many of these smaller animals are even available to purchase at reasonable price. It is this variety of experience that makes the farm so appealing to families looking for a great way to burn a few hours.

Of course, all of this does not come out of thin air. Both the animals and the property itself requires a great deal of upkeep to maintain. A dedicated staff pours in their time and energy to making sure that both the visitors and the animals are comfortable. This maintenance includes picking up after the animals, cleaning their enclosures, and even assisting new ones in being born. One such employee, Suzie Meyer, reflected on the gratifying nature of her work, and about how COVID made her job all the more challenging.

“I like milking cows, and feeding the chickens…we had to switch to making appointments for children to come see the animals, and selling the milk was a lot harder because we didn’t have people on our farm. And it affected a lot of our sales so we [had been] losing money, so we can’t feed the chickens.”

Both employees and visitors alike are cautiously optimistic about the future. Everybody is enjoying a refreshing return to business as usual, but if vaccination rates do not go up, all of these amenities that the farm offers could be reduced substantially.