SEQUIM — An aggressive marketing and advertising campaign is paying off for Olympic Game Farm, which is seeing dramatic increases in visitors and profits at a time when the economy is flagging, said the Beebe family’s third-generation game farm president.
“I really don’t want to get all that big,” said Robert “Bob” Beebe, who retired as a Navy chief petty officer and joined the family business in 2007 as president and general manager.
But the game farm, tucked away down Ward Road and open to the public since 1972, saw about 77,000 visitors last year and is set to surpass that number this year, Beebe said, looking over a map that pinpoints visitors coming from every corner of the globe.
Among the animals on display are lions, tigers and bears, as well as elk, zebras, prairie dogs, llamas, yaks, a rhinoceros, bison, deer, cougars, lynx, wolves and coyotes.
“A lot of the Japanese visitors are coming for Twilight,” Beebe said, adding that they choose to swing by the game farm on their way to Port Angeles and Forks to see the communities plotted in the popular novel and movie series.
The farm, which is open daily all year but for two holidays, employs nine year-round workers — two of whom have been there more than 25 years — and up to 14 during the peak summer months.
Beebe, 41, said he and his uncle, Ken Beebe, game farm vice president, run the operation.
Beebe’s father and former game farm president, Melvin Lloyd Beebe, died of cancer at 59 in 2002.
Ken and Alice Beebe filled the game farm’s business leadership before Bob Beebe took over.
The present game farm president said he also is watching over his grandparents, game farm founders Lloyd and Catherine Beebe, who are 94 and 88, respectively, and living in their home overlooking the 82-acre farm.
Upgrades
The main task at hand, Bob Beebe said, is to upgrade the existing game farm facilities, which he sees as a major challenge.
Already remodeled and expanded is the gift shop, which he said was “a little ghetto” and in need of improvement and brightening.
Kennels are being expanded and upgraded, and fences improved.
Even the refrigerator that keeps meat fresh for the lions and tigers has been recently repaired.
A picnic area with a plush, green lawn has been added for families to enjoy.
It’s adjacent to the popular studio barn, an old-growth wood structure that dates back to 1862 and contains classic movie sets used by Disney Studios and others.
Lloyd Beebe purchased the former dairy farm in 1942 and later became a wildlife cinematographer after he put his car up for collateral for a bank loan to purchase his first camera.
After making a film starring his son, Melvin, and a few orphaned and trained wild animals, the Beebes struck up a business relationship with Disney Studios that lasted into the early 1970s.
To help subsidize feed expenses, Beebe said the farm accepts donations of meat, and he has saved money by harvesting hay from fields people want mowed.
“We need at least 5,000 bales at 50 pounds each to feed the animals over the winter,” Beebe said.
Profits rising
The farm saw a 15 percent increase in gross profits the first year after Beebe took over, he said.
The second year saw an increase of 10 percent, and when the family raised the rates last year, they saw a 30 percent increase in gross profits, he said.
Beebe stresses that entry fees to the game farm are still cheaper than the Seattle and Tacoma zoos.
“We get enough profit to get through the winter payroll,” he said. “It’s going right back into the farm.”
This includes costs for employees, licensing, feed, utilities, repairs and other expenses associated with caring for the animals.
He has focused advertising on major cable TV channels and in newspapers and magazines, along with brochures on the ferries.
“One of several things I did first was increase the advertising,” he said.
The game farm’s online presence also has improved, and it has expanded to year-round hours.
“We starting to get tours and tour buses back,” Beebe said. “We’re just trying to breathe new life back into it.”
The game farm is at 1423 Ward Road.
Fall hours are from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Nov. 24. Winter hours from Nov. 26 through Feb. 21 are from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The game farm is closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Mini-tours are not available during the fall and winter.
Drive tour rates, which are per person, are $11 for those 15 and older, and $10 for children 6 to 14 and for seniors 55 and older. Children 5 and younger are admitted free.
Active military personnel and AAA members receive $1 off if they have valid cards.
Discounted rates are available for tour buses and groups of 10 or more.
For more information, phone 360-683-4295 or see www.olygamefarm.com/.
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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.
