By Chris Aldridge

Kentucky Ag News

FRANKFORT - Neltner’s Farm in northern Kentucky has become a popular venue for outdoor farm weddings.

The wedding business started by accident 13 years ago.

“I was getting my pumpkins ready for agritourism,” said Kevin Neltner, whose family has farmed 50 acres in Campbell County near Camp Springs for seven generations. “A friend asked me if he could use the farm for a wedding, and it evolved from there.”

Two large metal barns are available, both with rustic wood interiors from an old tobacco barn. One houses a bar area and space for the wedding party to get dressed and ready. The other is for receptions and a back-up space for the ceremony in case of rain.

Neltner raises draft horses, and one recent wedding opted to include them pulling a white open-top carriage.

“I brought the bride and her dad in, dropped them off, then picked up bride and groom after the ceremony,” he said.

Neltner said his wedding business has taken a noticeable hit since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Before COVID, we were booking over 25 weddings per year,” he said. “We’ve backed off a bit since COVID. We’re only doing nine weddings this year, and wedding sizes are smaller. We used to do 350 (people); Now they tend to be about 250. I think inflation has made money tighter for everybody.”

This weekend will kick off Neltner’s Farm’s busiest time of the year as it hosts its annual Fall Fest from Sept. 27 to Oct. 31. There’s the usual agritourism activities, such as a pumpkin patch and two corn mazes, a 2-acre puzzler and one for young children. There will also be horse-drawn wagon rides, a petting zoo, a farm shop, a large model train display, a barrel train ride, and live Bluegrass music every Saturday and Sunday. A local restaurant provides homemade food and ice cream.

“We canned 1,800 jars of pickles for the festival,” Neltner said, noting they are sold under the brand Claire’s Kitchen, named for his mother.

“When we started out, we were a little hole in the wall,” he added. “Now we have 2,500 people on a good day on weekends. A hundred thousand pounds of pumpkins will roll through here!”

New this year is a giant slingshot between two fence posts that guests can use to launch miniature pumpkins and gourds at targets.

The wedding side also has a new addition. A small 100-year-old house on-site was renovated and can be rented the night before and the night after the ceremony.

The farm first became a business about 40 years ago, selling fresh produce.

“We’re known for our tomatoes,” Neltner said. “We have greenhouses and grow (red and yellow) hydroponic tomatoes.”

Neltner’s Farm also sells “sugar corn,” Neltner’s name for sweet corn;  cherry and grape tomatoes; cucumbers; yellow squash and zucchini; purple and white eggplant; bell peppers in a variety of colors; hot and sweet peppers; green beans; potatoes; cantaloupe; watermelons; apples; and a variety of jams and jellies in Mason jars from Claire’s Kitchen using recipes passed down six generations.

“The farm began in 1892, but the vegetable part began back in the 1980s when my dad quit his carpenter job,” said Neltner, who’s been selling produce with his father since he was 6 years old along with his brothers. Neltner is currently president of Campbell County Farm Bureau.

Today, Neltner’s son, Brendan, 25, works full-time with his dad, selling the farm’s produce six days a week at nearby farmers’ markets in Alexandria, Cold Spring, Covington, Fort Thomas, Newport, and Cincinnati, as well as its roadside farm market at 6922 Four Mile Road, Melbourne, Ky.

For more information about Neltner’s Farm, go to www.NeltnersFarm.com.