Fire & Explosion Destroy Popular Michigan Amish Creamery

Smoke and flames rise from The Farmers' Creamery as Amish community members and a fire truck stand outside the Farm Kitchen store in Mio, Michigan — Fire and an explosion destroyed The Farmers’ Creamery, an Amish-owned creamery and store in Mio, Michigan, on Saturday. Image: Jeanie Smith/FB

Another popular Amish business has been lost to fire. A blaze and subsequent explosion on Saturday, October 3 destroyed The Farmers’ Creamery in Mio, Michigan, an Amish-owned creamery and store whose dairy products are sold in grocery stores across the state. The building is a total loss, but thankfully no major injuries were reported.

Here’s what happened, via 9and10news:

The Tri-Town Fire Department was dispatched to the business on Kittle Road at 1:35 p.m. Saturday after receiving multiple 911 calls.

Firefighters arrived 12 minutes later to heavy fire on the west side of the structure, where a burning natural gas line hampered early suppression efforts.

An explosion occurred inside the building at 2:07 p.m., prompting an immediate evacuation of firefighters, who shifted to defensive operations.

Nine fire departments ultimately used more than 300,000 gallons of water to extinguish the fire before crews cleared the scene late Saturday evening.

Due to the amount of damage, the cause will not be able to be determined, though the fire department said that “from multiple eyewitness reports, it is believed that the fire started on the West side of the building inside of the mechanical room.”

The building was torn down later that day according to the Detroit Free Press. Here’s a social media clip showing the fire and members of the community gathered around outside:

About The Farmers’ Creamery

According to the company’s website, three Amish dairy farmers started The Farmers’ Creamery in 2020. It grew to five family farms in the Mio area, each milking 30 to 40 grass-fed cows.

Its milk, cheese, ice cream, and other products are sold in stores as far away as metro Detroit. The store had a bakery and a sandwich counter. Jim Halverson visited this business last year. Here’s the cheese case:

Amish woman in a white cap working behind a deli counter above a case of cheeses at The Farmers' Creamery store in Mio, Michigan — Inside the Farmers’ Creamery store. Photo: Jim Halverson

Mio is one of the older Amish settlements in Michigan. Amish first settled there in 1900, died out in 1954, and returned in 1970. Mio is also where the Michigan Circle churches began. This is one of a number of Amish-run businesses in the area; we previously had a look at one food store called Country Corner Bulk Foods.

The Community Responds

Kyle Yoder, a local Mennonite pastor and friend of the owners, told the Free Press that his company, Metalfab Manufacturing, gave the creamery its empty building across the road. Amish neighbors helped carry contents of the office out of the burning building, and put it into the new space.

From there the business took immediate action to handle what to do with their farmers’ milk

On Saturday night, Farmers’ Creamery employees made calls out of the temporary office to try to take care of local farmers by getting their milk re-routed to other milk buyers, said Kyle Yoder, who is vice president of operations at Metalfab Manufacturing.

The goal, he said, was to make sure that income for the farmers would not immediately be cut off.

Here’s a photo from one of those producers:

Sign reading "Mark and Laura Yoder Family, Milk Producers for The Farmers' Creamery" with a milk can beneath it — Photo: Jim Halverson

Yoder said the effects reach past the dairy farms. His uncle sells hay and worries about losing buyers. His brother-in-law sells honey, and the creamery was the community’s largest honey buyer.

“In a small community like this, especially one that has weathered a lot of economic challenges, the creamery starting and doing well was a beacon of hope to many people,” Yoder said.

Several Michigan retailers that carry the creamery’s products posted messages of support.

Two Of This Year’s Burned-Down Amish Stores Have Already Reopened

Fires at Amish businesses are a reality; this is the latest of a number of them this year. In February, the Baker Country Market in Lemhi County, Idaho burned in a $1.2 million total loss. Also early this year, sheriff’s deputies in Montgomery County, New York grabbed hoses to fight a fire at an Amish sawmill before fire crews arrived.

In April, the Rustic Ridge Variety Store near Canton, Missouri burned to the ground. In May, an Amish-owned grocery in Newaygo County, Michigan burned overnight. And in July, fire tore through M.K. Hardwoods, an Amish lumber mill in Middlefield, Ohio.

At least two of those businesses are already rebuilt and back in operation. Rustic Ridge reopened just 51 days after its fire, and the Baker Country Market reopened about six months later in a bigger building.

That’s about what you’d expect from Amish communities, who tend to rally support to help their members get back on their feet quickly. I’d expect something similar happens here. According to reports, creamery leadership planned to meet this morning (Monday), to figure out how to proceed.