A local farm wasn’t horsing around when it threw a special party for one of its animals this weekend.
On Saturday, Echo Bay’s Lil Peace of Heaven Acres held a baby shower for its 13-year-old horse, Sierra, who’s due to have a baby later this spring.
As part of the celebration, the farm offered alpaca, pony, and horse rides, pictures with the mother-to-be, games, loot bags, and snacks, which brought around 200 visitors to the farm for the fun, unique event.
Sierra had a pretty good time herself, said farm owner Andrea Vanderveer, who dressed the horse up for the occasion.
“She loved it. She was just taking in all the pets and everybody around her,” Vanderveer said. “We had two older ladies, and they brought her a bag of carrots.”
“I had quite a few people who brought her apples and carrots and things like that, too, so she loved it, and all the other horses loved it, too.”
After throwing a successful Halloween party at the farm last fall, Vanderveer wanted to put together another event for kids to come out and interact with the animals – and she thought Sierra’s pregnancy fit the bill for a fun-filled afternoon.
“A lot of kids don't get to interact one-on-one with the horses and the alpacas and stuff like that. It was so huge when we had the Halloween bash,” she said. “So we thought well, let's do something else, and Sierra's going to be due in about a month. Why don't we just throw a big baby party?”
Vanderveer said the event was a hit with visitors, and mentioned a number of kids wanted to come back later this spring to meet Sierra’s baby, too.
“Everybody wants to see the baby, so I'm going to have a big Easter egg hunt here, and hopefully the baby will be on the ground by then so everybody can come and meet the little baby,” she said.
More about Lil Peace of Heaven Farm can be found on its Facebook page.