FOUNTAINTOWN, Ind. — If you still need to dispose of your live Christmas tree, a mobile petting zoo in Fountaintown will take it.
The animals at Barnyard Party Pals in Shelby County are still enjoying Christmas leftovers while looking to bring farm fun to city folk in the new year.
Christmas trees dropped off at the farm become a January snack for the goats, alpacas, miniature donkey, miniature pony, miniature Scottish Highland cow and other critters that make up Barnyard Party Pals.
"Not only a tasty treat, but it has valuable nutrients in the trees,” said Luke Schonfeld, owner of Barnyard Party Pals.
What started as an 8th grade agriculture class project became an FFA project in high school and has grown into a small business for Schonfeld, now 22 years old. His mobile petting zoo offers birthday parties, pony rides, live nativity animals, church and school events, animalgrams and animal education programs for people often not exposed to farm animals.
"You can see the pure excitement in their eyes,” Schonfeld said. “It's like that sense of joy of I've never been able to get my hands on it. So it's a sense of joy you can see in all of them. Whether you're one or 100, they will love it all."
16-year-old Camille Thopy serves as America's Miss Agribusiness Executive National “Agvocate.” She volunteers with Barnyard Party Pals.
"I feel that Barnyard Party Pals is a really excellent opportunity to get out in the community and allow people to interact with farm animals that they don't normally get to see,” said Thopy. “And it gives that one on one experience that people that aren't raised on a farm get to have and further educate them about where their food comes from.”
Barnyard Party Pals
Barnyard Party Pals hopes to expand in 2021 by purchasing a zebra, which costs more than $5,000.
"2021, our theme is we're going to get more wild than ever,” said Schonfeld. “Ever since I was six years old, I wanted a zebra. Let's just say that's our goal. It’s the thing about stripes. I just like it.”
Barnyard Party Pals will accept Christmas trees through January in a drop-off bin at the farm at 8437 North 25 West in Fountaintown.
The business is now taking orders for Valentine Animal Grams delivered by a pony, donkey, alpaca or goat.