Brome Lake Ducks rises from the ashes with bigger plans for the future
Fire destroyed Brome Lake Ducks’ Knowlton processing plant, administrative offices, and farm shop in July of 2016. A little more than two years later, they have been rebuilt, including a bright new boutique where people can buy their duck products. The boutique opened about three weeks ago.
The boutique was built in a way to give people the feeling they are on a farm, said Brigitte St. Julien, the marketing director for Brome Lake Ducks, in an interview last Thursday. There are old photos of the farm, a cement-looking floor, and a pile of straw (wrapped in a clear plastic bag).
“We’ll also have an interpretive centre, where people can read information about ducks,” she said. The interpretive centre, expected to open in December, will also have a video about the farm.
Looking back to the disaster in 2016, St. Julien said that the cause of the fire was never found, but that they think it originated in a compressor used for refrigeration. The buildings were insured, she noted, but the loss was discouraging.
“It was a very sad day for the employees,” she said.
Fire also destroyed one of two Brome Lake Ducks barns in Racine on New Year’s Day 2016, killing 55,000 ducks. That barn has been rebuilt as a state-ofthe-art facility.
Brome Lake Ducks was founded in 1912 on the west side of Brome Lake by Henry Bates. After his death, his son Arthur moved the farm to its present location in 1914. The farm was in the care of the Foster family for more than 70 years, St. Julien added, before being taken on by current owners Mario Côté and Joe Jurgielewicz.
Locals and tourists alike shopped at the old store, St. Julien said. Stores in Montreal carry the farm’s products and people want to visit the farm. The store was busy every day in the summer, she said. In the winter it was busy on weekends.
“We used to get buses with tourists,” she said.
The farm would like to make arrangements with other local businesses like hotels to promote the Town of Brome Lake and its attractions.
The boutique offers taste-testing every winter weekend for its visitors, St. Julien said. In the summer it’s every day. A chef sometimes explains how to cook duck. Gift baskets are available along with give-aways for a certain total purchase.
The farm plans to make parking available to cyclists next summer, which will allow them to bike around Knowlton and visit the shops, she said. The parking lot will also have chargers for electric vehicles.
“They can leave the car for the day and go explore,” she said.
The company also has plans to build a new distribution centre in the near future.
Since 2016 Brome Lake Ducks has invested $20 million, according to information provided by the company. It employs 260 people.