Family looks for bright side after fire

OUTLOOK, Wash. -- A well-known flower farm's future is uncertain as the family filters through the remains of a fire that last Friday destroyed their warehouse.

And even members of the Friend family are trying to find the funny side after the flames.

"If you don't laugh through things like this and trust that God's going to give you the answers on where to go from here, you would really lose it, you really would," Karen Friend said.

The fire destroyed a 7,200-square-foot warehouse on Price Road near Outlook used for two family businesses -- flower distribution and gourmet asparagus.

The family initially felt shock and disappointment after losing an integral piece of a 50-year enterprise.

"That building has been the center of how the business has grown," Friend said.

But soon, they began cracking jokes. On Saturday, they laughed about eating barbecued asparagus with their dinner and Tuesday cracked wise about boxing up flower bulbs under a tree, Friend said.

Friend and her husband, John, grow alium, iris and eramuris flowers for fresh-cut and bulb wholesale distribution throughout the country. The business also stores and ships for the peony business of John's brother, Nick Friend Jr., who also lives and works near Outlook.

The brothers are the second generation of Lower Valley flower growers, started by their father, Nick Friend Sr., a Dutch immigrant who died in 2008.

Together, their fragrant fields paint a small but noticeable patchwork of colors on both the north and south slopes of Snipes Mountain in the middle of the Lower Valley.

"I think everybody knew the Friends' flower farm or knew of it," said Pam Turner, executive director of the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce.

Karen Friend was a longtime board member of the chamber and has volunteered for many of Sunnyside's events, including the annual Lighted Farm Implement Parade.

John and Karen Friend used the warehouse for two cold-storage coolers, keeping flowers fresh for shipping.

Meanwhile, Scott Friend, John and Karen's son, used the warehouse to grow a niche asparagus crop called Gourmet Baby White. Grown indoors, the tiny stalks were shipped to high-end East Coast restaurants. One of his buyers even told him some might end up at a White House dinner.

The Friends don't know for sure if that happened. They ship wholesale and don't track where their products end up.

"The President didn't write to say how good it was," Karen Friend said.

The Friends are unsure if they will rebuild. John and Karen, 66 and 65, respectively, are considering retiring.

The family does not expect to have coolers replaced by the time the flower season reaches its peak near Memorial Day, when it ships nearly 200 boxes a day.

Karen Friend declined to reveal sales figures but said the farm was their sole source of income for many years and put all three of their now adult children through college.

John, Karen and Scott Friend keep only two or three employees year-round, one of them for about 20 years. Nobody has been laid off, Karen said.

"It all hinges so much on what we decide to do," she said.

Meanwhile, Scott Friend, 27, may find a new location for the asparagus business, Karen said. He also works a job outside the farm.

Firefighters are calling the fire unintentional but a cause is undetermined, said Capt. Ken Robillard of Yakima County Fire District 5.

It started about 4:30 p.m. Friday and took about 25 firefighters two hours to extinguish.

Nobody was injured.

Nothing inside the building was salvageable, Karen Friend said. Nobody was working inside at the time though she was inside her home next door when it happened.

Firefighters put the estimated value of the loss at $250,000.

* Ross Courtney can be reached at 509-930-8798 or rcourtney@yakimaherald.com.