By the bustling traffic of Interstate 65, sits a quiet family farm where several reindeer, and other animals, call their home.

The Reindeer Farm is a family owned farm and play area on Old Union Road in Bowling Green. 

Not only reindeer, but the farm also houses alpacas, donkeys, chickens and horses. They also offer free hot chocolate when a person purchases a ticket for the farm.

The reason for opening the Reindeer Farm was very family oriented, Jessica said.

“He [Russell] started on the night shift, so I’m home alone with three small kids. In the middle of the night he sent a text and he just talked about how he hated that I was there alone, and he talked about how he wished for something together as a family,” Jessica said. “We had always wanted to have a farm and I’m obsessed with Christmas.”

After some research, and when they visited a similar farm, Russell and Jessica knew they wanted to open a reindeer farm.

“We did a lot more research, we dug deeper, because there’s not a lot of information out there about how to go about it,” Jessica said. “We visited that farm and as soon as Russell touched one he was like ‘oh, this is cool, we can do this.’” 

The owners Russell and Jessica Anderson operate the Reindeer Farm with their three young children. 

They opened the Reindeer farm last year, during the pandemic. With last year being the first year of the farm they don’t know if the pandemic affected business. According to Russell, they had people waiting at the gate last year at 9 a.m. with a line out to the fences.

“A lot of the people we spoke to in the community when we asked them their thoughts on opening during COVID and the majority of people were like ‘it’s mainly outside, we’ve been cooped up, the kids’ school has been strange and we feel like it’s safe,’” Jessica said. 

Lending a hand on the weekends at the Reindeer Farm are five WKU agriculture students, Jessica said.

“Everyone wanted to get out [of their homes],” Russell added.

Their children help out with the animals on the farm and the children are no stranger to hard work, Jessica said.

They offer events all year round, not just during the Christmas Season. For example, petting zoo areas, tug-o-war, ring toss and much more. Jessica said, with this being only their second year nothing is “set in stone” she is optimistic and happy with the way things are going on the farm.

“We like doubled the size [of the petting zoo areas] from last Christmas to this Christmas,” Jessica said.

From the Grinch to Santa Claus to Disney’s Frozen characters, there is always something special scheduled. You can find the specifics on their website.

News reporter Michael Crimmins can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @michael_crimm