EAST PALESTINE, Ohio – After a Norfolk Southern train derailed in the village nearly two years ago, Buck Berry Farm began to struggle.
Shortly after the derailment, a lot of purchases by Norfolk Southern employees kept Traci Meek’s business afloat. They purchased her eggs and donated them to a local nursing facility. They bought lots of her other products, such as goat milk soaps, as well.
But, eventually, Meek recognized that the railroad employees were accounting for nearly all of her sales, and that could not sustain her long-term. She decided to stop selling her products to the employees, see where the fallout was and then diversify her offerings.
In 1997, Meek started making candles and selling them from another business downtown. She also created hand-made rustic decor.
In 2014, she and her husband, Jim, ramped up their farming operations on the 30-acre farm they own on the edge of East Palestine, the village where they both grew up. Her husband is a third-generation farmer on the property. Their daughter and son, Madison and Justin, both play big roles on the farm as well.
By 2020, the Meeks were expanding their shop space and offerings, including bath salts and lotions.
Before the derailment, the majority of their business was in the sale of beef, pork, chicken, eggs and jams and jellies, Meek said. She added that many people are willing to pay more for meat and eggs when they know how the animals are raised.
“Know your farmer, know your food,” Meek said.
But after the derailment, where the animals had been raised became a liability instead of a benefit.
Customers canceled their orders. Meek ended up selling some of the animals at an auction for far less than she had invested in raising them. She lost all but a couple of her egg customers.
“It was a horrible, preventable accident – negligent, completely,” said Meek, noting she is not against the railroad, just the decisions that led to the train not being stopped before it got to East Palestine.
Meek switched gears in the months after the derailment. She tried fresh-cut flowers, turning a whole pasture field into a gardening operation. People loved them, she said. They came to buy flowers, interact with the animals and to buy other products. She added products from other businesses, as well, especially women-owned businesses and farms. She has brought in coffees, infused maple syrups and flavor infused honey, all made far from East Palestine.
Investing in making her own products is risky after the derailment, she said, because safety concerns linger.
“I can tell you it’s safe. I can tell you Ohio State was here. Youngstown State was here in early fall,” Meek said. “There’s nothing coming back dirty here. Everything is coming back OK.”
During the Snowflake Festival in the village, Meek said they built a small fire outside that customers could enjoy, in addition to the animals on the farm.
“It’s not just a shopping experience,” Meek said. “You get an experience.”
She is considering adding other offerings, such as parties where people can make their own candles at her shop. But the future is difficult to see.
Not only is her business struggling, but so are many of the others in the village, Meek said. “The businesses are struggling,” she said. “We are struggling. One or two events do not pay our bills all year.”
Kat Smith, owner of Kat’s Krystals, agrees that businesses in the village are struggling. Her Shop Small Saturday sales were down 80%. By collaborating, Smith and Meek have been working to find more ways to bring business back to East Palestine, even holding a Fall Fest after the village canceled its event.
“We did Fall Fest, and it was wildly successful,” Smith said, adding that people gave them great feedback. Their next event may happen around Valentine’s Day, and Meek urges people to keep checking social media.
Smith said she met Meek when she was an officer with the East Palestine Chamber of Commerce and recognized that Meek’s business, located on the edge of the village instead of downtown, was getting forgotten when events were planned.
“We have a friendship based on what can we do to change that,” Smith said. “We need an effort to bring business to every business owner in town.”
Meek has a lot of ideas for ways downtown could be spruced up, areas created in vacant spaces for people to enjoy and maybe set up a farmers market. She suggests a building or place where the chamber has a presence would help promote everyone. She likes what she hears from others like the Small Nation organization, which has been presenting some ideas for improving the village after the derailment.
The village recently announced it will collaborate with Small Nation in its efforts to revitalize downtown. Small Nation was in East Palestine on Nov. 22, spending time with council members and the Community Improvement Corporation board, as well as touring through downtown to look at opportunities for growth.
Meek said she believes there should be more offerings for people downtown, instead of frustrating empty storefronts, which have only increased since the derailment but started trending that way before the derailment.
“I remember when I was a kid, what our town used to look like. It was vibrant,” Meek said. “It was that hometown, small town. … It reminded me of those towns in the 50s.”
Pictured at top: Traci Meek, owner of Buck Berry Farm.