When Jim Sweet’s father first purchased the family’s Gaithersburg farm in 1958, weddings were far from top of mind. In the early days, the farm’s 91 acres were all about chickens — some 19,000 of them, to be exact. Brides and grooms? Not so much.
But just a decade later, the business took a turn, winding down its egg business in favor of a growing sector — events. Now, the farm plays host to around 300 team-building days, corporate picnics and rustic weddings a year, along with community barbecues and Christmas tree sales. As president and CEO, Jim Sweet is focused on keeping the multifaceted Smokey Glen Farm up with the trends of the day — and no, he’s not planning to sell the property.
“I’m pretty familiar with a lot of the local developers and land use attorneys and all of those guys. They know. They know that we’re not interested in selling,” Sweet said. “They know our goal is to keep the business in the family for many generations.”
How did Smokey Glen Farm get started? In 1953 at the University of Maryland, my parents had a barbecue chicken concession stand at the stadium. My dad was a graduate student at the Agriculture school and studying poultry. After he graduated, my parents traveled and then settled down and bought the property.
How big is your staff now? Our full-time staff is 13 and then our part-time staff, which are primarily high school and college students — we are pushing 200 on any given point in the calendar. We are the largest single unit youth employer in Montgomery County, and it’s one of the things we’re most proud of. We focus in on training and leadership and we’ve had generations of staff run through here. We keep up with a lot of alumni staff.
How did the rise of the rustic wedding trend affect your business? We really did very few weddings until about 2009. We would do just a handful every year. But with the downturn in the economy, came the rise of rustic weddings becoming a thing. So we’ve been riding that wave here for the last 10 years or so.
Is the farm still a family business? My mother, one of the founders, is still with us and lives on the property. She turns 90 soon. She’s still involved, but she’s retired from the day-to-day. I work with my older brother, Mark, who is the property manager.
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Earliest memory on the farm: Back when we had poultry, running through the chicken houses. And with the events — what a great business to grow up around. We’d come and visit and see the great food and hang out with my dad — I loved it.
Next business goal: To continue to make improvements on the business, modernizing the facilities. We want to keep things rustic, but there are things that need to be done.
What’s the most complicated event you’ve done? We did what I’ll call the “Hollywood Wedding” in 2014. That was the most complex. We were working with an event planner and the pavilions and barn were completely transformed. They were unrecognizable. It was about 325 people. It was difficult, but the most gratifying.
Favorite hobbies: My wife and I are both into motorcycling. When we have time we go out for rides. I’m also into dirt-biking. We have a pair of motorcycles that we keep out west in Las Vegas and do a couple rides a year.
What do you ride? I have a Husqvarna 701 and my wife has a Yamaha WR250R.
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Did you both have a love of motorcycles before you got married? She learned to ride in 2008, shortly after we met. She’d always had a desire to. We’re also into bicycling, we’re into power skateboards.
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So, anything with wheels. Yes, those one-wheel power boards. We ride them on the farm sometimes. And my wife has a four-wheel skateboard that she likes. So we like to go to places that have good, paved bike paths and skate.
