By Wendi Reardon Price
Staff Writer
wprice@mihomepaper.com
INDEPENDENCE TWP. — Final touches are being made as Clarkston Family Farm (CFF) turns into a holiday village for its annual Christmas at the Farm on Saturday, Dec. 7, 3-6 p.m.
“I love this event,” said CFF Executive Director Chelsea O’Brien. “It’s my favorite.”
Visitors can expect holiday favorites returning including crafts in Santa’s Workshop, cocoa and gingerbread cookies at the Gingerbread House, interacting with the farm animals at the Reindeer Run, shopping with local vendors at the Kringle Market as well as bonfires and caroling.
“Tons of crafts and a lot of new vendors so that will be really fun,” said O’Brien.
Special appearances will be made as Buddy the Elf and Jovie, Grandmother Christmas, the Grinch and, of course, Santa and Mrs. Claus return.
“The abominable snowman might make an appearance this year,” O’Brien said, hinting at more surprise appearances as well.
This year the Clarkston Family Farm is adding igloos, which will be located in the hoophouse.
“We made these tunnel gardens in our hoophouse. They are meant for growing, but we have thought these could be the cutest igloos,” said O’Brien, adding each of the six igloos is themed as a different arctic animal. “They will be filled with books and pillows. It’s going to be a great sensory place, too. So if moms, dads or grandparents need a spot to sit, and the littles can go in the igloos. It will be a cozy spot so kids can take a break. I love Christmas at the Farm and love we have it all spread out, sometimes that can be a lot of heightened energy for families so it’s nice to have a quiet space.”
Also, new this year is another option for parking.

“We get so many people and parking is always an issue,” O’Brien said. “We decided we have so many friends who live on Allen Road we thought we would have one hayride dedicated as a shuttle – we are calling it the Polar Express which I am really excited about. I think our guests will appreciate parking close and also make it fun. You can have a cute hayride for $10 per family, which is what we charge for a hayride anyway. A lot of people enjoy a hayride regardless so we thought let’s have the Polar Express and have it one of the activities. It’s one of those things trying to fix and trying to make fun.”
Christmas at the Farm is a free event, but families are asked to pre-register.
“It gets bigger and bigger every year,” O’Brien said. “Last year we had over 1,500 people. I need to know who’s coming so we can communicate where to park, some of the new options we have, and rules of the farm. I like it as well because I can record a welcome video and I can send it out to the emails that I have. A lot of questions people have for the event – where to park, do you take credit card, what food will be available – some of those things I can address in a video or email.”
Clarkston Family Farm is also working on the Holiday Harvest Baskets and O’Brien shared they will do something different this year.
“We are thinking this year we are going to do harvest baskets but raffle them off and have that money used for scholarships for kids like for our camp programs, clubs or workshops. There is a lot of need out there and it seems at Christmas everyone loves donating because it makes you feel good, and it is the spirit of Christmas. There is so much influx of generosity it is almost overwhelming for families.
“If we focus on what can be helpful for individual families like both parents are working have no childcare during the summer,” she added. “We are still working with all the farmers and local businesses who have been so generous over the years, but instead of dropping them off on doorstops of folks who may already be getting a lot of love at that time already, a better way is to identify some families who could use some Camp Wild scholarships and raise money for through raffling off the baskets.”
Clarkston Family Farm is also celebrating executive director and founder O’Brien as one of the recent recipients of the 2025 Community Changemaker Award from SEEN Magazine.
“I was super surprised and then just really excited,” she said. “Not just because awards are fun and a point of pride to be recognized for the many hours and lots of sacrifice and hard work that one does to do the work we have done to create a farm from nothing. It was a point of pride for sure. I loved that we were able to share our story with a much larger audience.
“I think by now everyone in Clarkston knows about the Clarkston Family Farm,” she added. “But not necessarily in the Metro Detroit area. It’s really fun to be recognized in that way to be on the map and to be able to share the important work we are doing here in Clarkston with folks all over southeast Michigan. Maybe it will inspire other people to take on their big ideas to help their community.”
She added going to Detroit and meeting the other recipients was a great experience.
“The other changemakers are just remarkable with the work they do. I just felt very humbled to be in that company,” O’Brien said.
For more information about Clarkston Family Farm including events and volunteering, please visit clarkstonfamilyfarm.com and follow them on Facebook – Clarkston Family Farm.

  Clarkston Family Farm