It has been a busy winter and we haven’t updated you on too many details lately. The most exciting news for us is that Greg Best will be returning June 19-21. More details to come on the Greg Best Clinic and things going on at the barn. In the meantime, stay warm. Although we just got hit with more snow, spring is just around the corner!
All posts by bonnielea
An Amazing Monday
Thank you to all of you who supported the fund raiser that the Nicastro Family hosted at their restaurant, Isabella’s. Great food and great people made for a wonderful event. Our hearts continue to be filled with love and support from our amazing community.
More details to come…
With Endless Thanks
Dear Friends, Family and Community,
As many of you may know, one of Bonnie Lea Farm’s barns was recently hit by lightning and burned to the ground. Miraculously, no humans or animals were injured during the fire. On behalf of the entire DeMayo Family and Bonnie Lea Farm, I would like to thank the many people who have come forth to assist us through this traumatic event. We greatly appreciate the response from the Williamstown, Pownal and Clarksburg fire departments. Without their rapid response and great care, we could have easily have lost two adjacent barns or even the house. The arrival of the fire fighters brought us such relief during a chaotic time.
In addition to the fire departments, we would like to thank the community for the many expressions of support and love. The outpouring of generosity has been a humbling experience. We are blessed to have such special friends and family.
With all that is in front of us we could not have imagined making such progress to date. It is due to the wonderful volunteers of all ages and their great support that we have been able to clean up the site enough to start building again. With thanks to Jim Galusha and his guys the site is level! With thanks to Ron Baldwin and committed volunteers, we have started rebuilding! Working nights and weekends, a small barn is almost complete. This barn will provide some immediate storage for winter hay and replace 4 of the 15 stalls that were lost. As we move forward, the rebuilding will continue in stages as we are able. As you might imagine, there are hundreds of people to thank and the list is growing! We will try to keep you posted on our web site Bonnielea.com.
Thank you to all who have kept us in your thoughts and prayers as we continue to recover from our loss. Your words of hope and inspiration have helped us pick up the pieces as we move into a new chapter at Bonnie Lea Farm.
With gratitude,
Lisa DeMayo
On Behalf of the entire DeMayo Family and BLF
Cadet is Back in Action
With great thanks to the many, Cadet is happy to be back in a new stall in roughly the same location as his stall in the barn that burned. As a result of everyone’s efforts, Cadet is eating again and settling into his new stall.
For those of you who missed the story, Bittersweet Cadet is our 34 year old Morgan stallion. Cadet stopped eating after we lost the 3rd barn to fire caused by lightning.
A barn, approximately one-fourth of the size of the barn that burned is being constructed with the help of many volunteers. The effort is being led by Ron Baldwin, of Baldwin Carpenters and Builders, who is helping to create stalls and storage area for hay before winter arrives. The rebuilding would never have been possible without the assistance of Jim Galusha and his team that led the cleanup effort. With the help of the large equipment, those of us with rakes, magnets and gloves were able to sort through the remains more quickly.
The outpouring of generosity has been a humbling experience. People have continued to call, volunteer, send food for the workers, etc. Thank you to all who have kept us in your thoughts and prayers as we continue to try to recover from our loss.
Barn Fire
Sadly, we lost one of our barns to fire as a result of lightning on Friday evening. We are lucky that every human and animal survived. Thank you to all for your thoughts, prayers, food and hard work over the past few days. The outpouring from the community has been overwhelming and is greatly appreciated. We will continue to keep you posted through this site as much as possible.
Here is more of the story through the eyes of the media and others…
http://iberkshires.com/story/27996/Williamstown-Barn-Burns-After-Lightning-Strike.html
http://www.flickr.com/photos/39132450@N00/
http://www.thetranscript.com/ci_10138322?source=most_viewed
http://www.berkshireeagle.com/ci_10147984
Greg Best Clinic Oct 23-26
October 23-26, 2008
We are very excited to announce that Bonnie Lea Farm will be hosting a Greg Best Clinic in October. Greg Best is known throughout the world for his double silver 1988 Olympic medals and grand prix show jumping. Greg is now sharing his talents with others, coaching at clinics in the United States and New Zealand. We are pleased he will be visiting us in Massachusetts.
For more information on Greg, please visit his website. http://www.nzequestrianvacations.co.nz/
To those of you who may be too young to remember Greg Best and Gem Twist, here are some links that tell you more about their history, as well as some videos on You Tube that might be of interest. Let”s just say they were the most famous show jumping combination for a long time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Best
http://www.chadofarm.net/Gemtwist/NewMainPage.asp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv92v6m4iOY&feature=related
RELEASE FORM
All Riders who are visiting for a clinic or event, or who are regular students must complete a release form to ride at Bonnie Lea Farm. Release Form