After 43 years selling berries along Yelm Highway, Spooner Berry Farms has a new address. Sue and Tim Spooner signed a lease to move their stand to 2915 Yelm Highway Southeast, a property just west of their former location, after their agreement with the city of Olympia expired on October 1.
The new spot sits on 9 acres owned by real estate broker Tom Schrader at Yelm Highway and Rich Road, according to The Olympian. Schrader told the paper he wanted to help the Spooners keep the stand operating, and described the new agreement as flexible — though he declined to discuss financial details beyond confirming it includes a fee. That flexibility exists, he said, because he is trying to sell the property.
For now, that means the Spooners have breathing room. Schrader said they will have space at the property for at least a couple of years, even though they could eventually need to move again. He added that a future developer could choose to incorporate the berry stand into plans for the site, potentially keeping it there for the long haul — the kind of arrangement the Spooner family hopes to pursue with Schrader beyond the initial lease term.
Why the Stand Had to Move
The relocation traces back to Olympia's plans for the 86-acre property at 3327 Yelm Highway Southeast, which the city bought in 2018 for $10.7 million to build the Jolene Unsoeld Community Park. The Spooners had leased land there since 1983, originally from the property's previous owners, the Zahn family, and continued operating after Olympia took over. Their U-Pick strawberry field closed after the 2023 season, and Sue Spooner had understood that the berry stand itself would remain even though the field would not be part of the park.
That changed as construction neared. City construction permits require crews to close direct highway access to the old site and reroute traffic, and city staff cited restrictions tied to state and federal grants funding the park as additional reasons the stand could not stay put, the station reported, per the city's account relayed through its reporting. Nearly a dozen supporters spoke to the Olympia City Council last month over the stand's fate, with the Spooners warning that losing their main sales location could jeopardize the business.
Olympia had offered alternatives, including space for a mobile stand inside the future park plaza and help covering relocation costs, after hiring a relocation firm to identify other sites. The city's contractor flagged two viable options, including one less than half a mile from Yelm Highway access, according to The JOLT News. One of those alternatives sat on property already sold and set to close in 2028, while the other was a concession stand built into the park itself, per MyNorthwest.
A Familiar Stretch of Highway
The new site isn't exactly quiet. The property already hosts the Buns of Glory burger truck, a Mexican food stand, a shaved ice business and a seasonal fireworks stand, giving the berry operation new neighbors along the same commercial corridor. Sue Spooner framed the move simply: “We just like to raise our berries, sell our berries, and so we found a new spot,” she told the outlet.
She said community support helped motivate the couple to keep growing and selling berries, and that customers look forward to the harvest every summer. “We want to keep the tradition going,” she said. The new lease, as the paper's reporting frames it, gives the family an alternative to shutting down their main sales location altogether rather than a guaranteed permanent home.
What's Coming to the Old Site
Olympia's park project has already cleared a major hurdle. The city council approved a $17.7 million contract for the first phase of construction, and the project also landed $2.85 million in grants from the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office, according to the same outlet. The development is estimated to cost around $20 million overall and is expected to open by late 2028.
When finished, Jolene Unsoeld Community Park is expected to include athletic fields, 13 pickleball courts, a playground, basketball courts, a dog park and a satellite maintenance facility. Construction on the first phase was slated to begin this fall and is expected to take roughly 18 to 24 months to complete.
