Brightside Vintage Farm is more than just a wedding venue. This place has grown into a community, a mission, and a home, where unity thrives and lives are positively impacted for a greater purpose. We do host weddings and other events, but there is magic on the days that the farm is not open for rentals. There is beauty in every place that people exist, and our story is no exception to that truth. To fully understand this story of what has happened and is happening here on this small 41 acre piece of land, we must go back, to go forward.
Back on May 22, 1897 this land was homesteaded and the original 160 Acre parcel was sold the next year to Mr. & Mrs. Moreau for $400 in gold coins. The recorded sale included the following: 3 plows, 1 rake, 2 wagons, 2 shovels, 2 pitchforks, 6 milk cans, 2 milk buckets, 100 bushels of wheat, 3 hogs, 10 cows, and a smooth mouthed horse! In 1900 Mr. Moreau built a 20x20 square foot home with 11 foot ceilings and a dirt cellar.
Parts of the original farm house still remain, and remnants of the old-style insulation were found in the walls and attic (old bits of newspaper from 1890, old-fashioned Butterick sewing patterns, pieces of lace and the like).
The old dairy barn was built between 1910 and 1920, and has been lovingly maintained for a century now. The land has supported crops of timothy & alfalfa hay for horses and cows, and clover for hogs and calves.
The orchard of 72 fruit trees was planted in the early 1980’s, with an original apple tree affectionately called Grandma nearby, the circumference of her trunk is nearly seven feet around!
After the Moreaus, there have been 3 other families that owned this land; most recently Sharon and Kerry Parker who raised their family here and stewarded the land for over 40 years. The Parkers purchased the farm from Sharon's father, Chet Haralson for a sum of $25,000. In fact, the Parker's oldest daughter, Colleen Parker Poeppel, provided us with the fascinating history of this farm, for which we are extremely grateful. In short, Heidi Bright (our Founder) is the 4th Owner of this original homestead.
The Brightside Story begins around 120 years after the Moreau’s first settled here, in the most unexpected way. Our story begins with Heidi’s search to get out of the congested and rainy ‘west side’ of Washington State, she was originally from Kirkland WA. In 2012 that search brought her to this very property. When she stepped onto the farm she instantly knew that this was the destination of her unknown search.
At this point, she had no clue the extent of how this land would be used for a higher purpose than just a retirement retreat. A few years passed, and Heidi was splitting time at the farm and west side. During that period, she continually oversaw upgrades and stewardship of the grounds, however the farm was only a mere shadow of what it is today, as a fully functioning venue. Heidi did great work restoring and re-inventing the farm by reviving the property to a state of elegance which led it toward the oasis it is today.
In 2015, while making the two hour trip over the mountain pass, to Kittitas Valley, Heidi was given conviction of a direction for her private farm retreat. She describes it as a ‘still small voice’ telling her to share what had been given to her, (Moreau Farm) with others. This went completely against her initial gut when purchasing the property as a secluded quiet farm retreat for her personal enjoyment and retirement.
Feeling a sense of obedience, from that tug on her heart, she started sketching out ideas of what she could do to bring people and share this land. These ideas ranged from ‘farm to table fundraiser events’ ‘farm stays’ ‘corporate retreats’ ‘bunkhouse escapes’ ‘weddings’ and a number of other great ideas.
The name of the farm at this time was ‘Happy Goat Hollow’ as raising goats was an intricate part of the farm during this period. We still raise goats today here at Brightside Vintage Farm. As time passed she allowed those brainstorming ideas to fall to the wayside, due to her busy real estate career and family priorities. Heidi didn’t forget about that very impactful moment of conviction while driving over the pass, as the different ideas were tabled, for a time but she allowed them marinate with intentional research on how such an idea would even be feasible via vision boards and cost analysis.
In summer 2017, A young 22 year old baseball player transferred to CWU to play, Me. At this point in my story I had been called to play baseball and walk with the Lord while doing it. That journey had brought me all across the U.S. and I landed back in WA, close to home for my senior year. My dad had gotten cancer and I wanted to play baseball close to my parents home.
Heidi and I met through a fatefully random Zillow lead, as part of Heidi’s real estate business. I was in the process of searching out the purchase of a home in Ellensburg via a partnership with a mentor and my boss I had at the time. I was coaching at the baseball facility that I had trained at while growing up. The plan was for my boss to supply capital, I would supply work and we split the profit after my time at Central Washington University was finished.
It was because I chose to answer that phone call from a random number (that happened to be a Realtor) that my life was forever changed.
We scheduled 5 showings of houses in the area that might work for my unique opportunity to buy a house. Between two of the houses my parents, brother and I came to Moreau Farm to meet Heidi and talk about God’s work in our lives. It was a very wonderful time on the back porch of the Farmhouse that ended in us all parting as friends.
The week after house hunting, I injured my knee working on my parents property, in Monroe Washington. At the same time, I decided to change majors at CWU from Business to Public Relations and this added about 35 extra credits I needed in order to graduate that year. These two setbacks led me not to pull the trigger on buying a house in Ellensburg.
Instead, I decided, this would be a great opportunity to turn my parents’ suburban, into a mini home and live in that for the year while I played baseball at CWU. This plan did not get far off the ground as my dad walked outside while I was measuring the back end of the SUV. I wanted to see how I was going to fit my plywood base for a bed in it. My dad, luckily, told me I was not going to live in a car for a year, but instead instructed me to call Heidi and see if there was anyone in the community she knew that would rent me a room for a year. (Not gonna lie, still bummed I couldn’t build this Suburban SUV home).
When Heidi and I spoke, she totally understood, and instead of pointing me toward someone else, she invited me to stay in the tiny ‘Cottage’ adjacent to her Farmhouse for 30+ days to figure out my living situation for the coming year. We are now over 1500 days later.
