GOLDENDALE, Wash. — Behind their Goldendale home, husband and wife Dan Connell and Tanya Clarke have built a magical place at their farm, Goldendale Reindeer.
“We are a year-round farm,” said Clarke. “We specialize in doing small group tours.”
They’re both emergency room nurses, so they don’t have many silent nights.
This time of year, they have Santa’s attention. Why is that? All signs on the farm point to the couple’s nine reindeer.
“He was here last weekend. He did say he thinks Carliese and maybe Cedar might be on Santa’s team this year,” Clarke said, referring to two of their three newest additions.
The couple got their first reindeer and opened a couple years ago. You can’t keep reindeer in Oregon or California, where the couple moved from, so they settled in Klickitat County.
Along with private tours and other events, Goldendale Reindeer teaches guests about reindeer conservation, and of course, lets them interact with the herd.
“You don't know how many times I've had people say to me, 'Reindeer are real?!'” laughed Clarke. “They are real. They are real, and they're very magical in their own ways.”
Connell loves offering such a unique experience and seeing the reactions from visitors both young and old.
REINDER ROUNDUP:
“When we decided to do this as a business, you sit down and you think, who's your audience going to be?” he said. “I've been shocked at the age range from infants to 95-year-olds … from kids to adults, when you get here and you're around reindeer, everyone's a kid. So it's pretty cool.”
On weekends in December, Goldendale Reindeer hosts BELIEVE in the Magic of Christmas with fire pits, music, family lawn games, pictures with Santa and more.
“This is a time for families just to really slow down and come out to the farm, put down their social media on their phones and kind of get back to the good old-fashioned values of 'Let's spend time together and play games and listen to some music and see Santa and roast a marshmallow around the firepit,'” said Clarke.
If you missed it this year, the farm is open year-round. Santa will be back the weekend before Christmas to pick the team to pull his sleigh, and see if Goldendale Reindeer made the cut on their social media. Visiting is by appointment only, so the owners say to book an appointment through their website.