Good-bye to Bergey's

Today was the Final sale and auction of Bergey's Dairy in Chesapeake, Virginia. The closing of a home delivery dairy that had been around since 1933 doing the same business that we are trying to survive doing today.

We drove 4 hours down to Virginia Beach this morning to be greeted by a very friendly, and positve Leonard Bergey, our dear friend for almost 4 years. Despite all that he was losing he was in a very upbeat spirit, sometimes I think I was more emotional than he was. Just remembering all the fall vacations that Tony, Gabe and I took to VA Beach, and we always stopped in for a visit, and although we knew he must be very busy, he would always spend hours of his time with us, just catching-up and sharing trade secrets. The storefront was something I always envied because of the cute decorations and just more retail space they had to sell their products from, it was further back from the road than our store front and allowed customers ample room for parking and lots of picnic benches for enjoying their ice cream treats and sandwiches.

The auction was good for us, as not many people came out to purchase, things went for "dirt cheap" we could have most honestly bought the whole place with the money we brought along as a budget...it was very sad in this regard, that the community would have been more supportive of a business that was around for over 70 years! Even as we were bidding and buying items that were worth thousands of dollars more than they were bringing he was right alongside congratulating us and other buyers on their "great deals!" It just absolutely broke my heart!

We left this afternoon with a very fond memory of a place that will no longer be, and a special place in our hearts for this hard working farmer that will no longer have to get up early every morning to milk his cows and process his milk, and hopes that the Lord will open up another door for him and his family and bless them in whatever endeavor he takes on next!