Customers mourn year-end closure of Schramm Farms in Harrison City

When Sarah Hough’s mother makes applesauce for the holidays, she’s looking for a specific type of apple, and she’s going to Schramm Farms & Orchards in Harrison City to find it.

“They’re Lodi apples,” said Hough, a Murrysville resident. “She’s afraid she’s not going to be able to make it anymore.”

Customers throughout the area are mourning the official announcement that Schramm’s will close at the end of the year, after rumors of the closure began circulating in October.

The farm, itself, has been in operation since 1864.

“Some people are shocked, and some are just sad,” said owner Hill Schramm, 65. “But we’re glad we’re getting to take some time off.”

Schramm’s parents opened the market about four decades ago, and it’s a mainstay among western Westmoreland residents for its popular pumpkin patch, maze and wide variety of produce.

“I’m so sad — we shop there three or four times a week in the summer,” Hough said. “I don’t know where we’ll get Chambersburg peaches now.”

Dorothy Gray of Murrysville was shopping for apples and some assorted veggies on a quiet Saturday afternoon at the market. She’s gone there faithfully once a week for the past 20 years.

“You come in the summer to get the corn and the Chambersburg peaches,” she said. “And their canned products here are just wonderful. I’m really going to miss it.”

Schramm said that he is still putting out products that customers are looking for.

“We sell frozen cherries and they’re going out the door,” he said. “Our homemade sauerkraut is going crazy, and we’re still pressing cider. We’ll get another batch in for Christmas, and maybe another one for New Year’s.”

Schramm also left open the possibility that the market may continue at some point down the road.

“We’re not selling signs or memorabilia from the store, because it may reopen,” he said.

About 20 employees work at the business, but Schramm’s website notes that the adjoining Grandma’s Country Oven Bake Shoppe, which has its own entrance, will remain open as it is a separate business.

Schramm said he’s truly enjoyed being able to run the market and raise his kids on the family farm.

“Even when I was at work, they were close,” he said. “Now they have their own kids, and that’s why I need to retire. so I can spend some more time with them. But my kids all worked here until they finished college, and I really enjoyed being able to spend that time with them.”