43
Bon voyage, Bonnie!
By Justin Wier
CANFIELD
White House Fruit Farm is synonymous with blueberry doughnuts, but many visitors also took away fond memories of Bonnie, the farm’s border collie.
“We think some people came out to visit us not because of what we sold so much, but because they wanted to play with Bonnie,” said Debbie Pifer, owner of White House Fruit Farm.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Debbie and her husband, John, announced that Bonnie died Tuesday. As of Friday, the post had more than 1,700 comments that shared memories and expressed condolences. Local artist Matt Batcho posted a painting of Bonnie that now serves as the farm’s profile picture.
“We’ve been very overwhelmed with the support we’ve gotten,” Pifer said. “We even got a call from someone in Florida.”
Pifer said Bonnie was the farm’s mascot for 10 years. She belonged to Pifer and her husband, and Pifer said she started bringing Bonnie to work with her most days of the week.
“Her goal in life was to work every day,” she said. “Her work consisted of chasing sticks and tennis balls.”
Bonnie typically hung out by the lake and looked for people to play fetch with her.
“If you didn’t pay attention to her, she would come and put her stick on your cart or do something else to let you know that you were expected to play with her,” Pifer said.
Brooke Jayma shared a story on the farm’s Facebook page of Bonnie doing just that. A few weeks ago, she said an older man wasn’t interested in throwing a ball for Bonnie, so Bonnie put it on his cart. He threw it off to the side, and she quickly put it back.
“The man grinned a little and actually threw it for her this time and waited for her to come back,” Jayma posted. “She really knew how to uplift someone’s spirits.”
For the past seven years, White House Fruit Farm has had birthday parties for Bonnie on the second weekend in May. Animal charities and organizations that arrange adoptions attend the parties. Pifer said this tradition will continue, with the next celebration scheduled for May 13.
“Instead of being Bonnie’s birthday in honor of Bonnie, it will be her birthday in memory of Bonnie,” she said. “We hope that people come and that they donate or buy a bag of dog food.”
She encouraged those who want to remember Bonnie to donate to animal charity organizations in her name.
Pifer added that there are no current plans for the farm to replace Bonnie, in part because they’re not sure a new dog would be as friendly to the large number of people who come to the farm.
“We didn’t train her; Bonnie trained herself,” she said. “We didn’t have any intentions of her becoming what she became or doing what she did. It was all her.”