Business & Tech

Tonight: Local 'Farm Kings' Battle Summer's Golf Ball-Sized Hail

The episode dealing with fallout from the July 4 hail that hit the area airs on GAC Thursday.

Remember this?

It wasn’t just fireworks going ka-boom in the area on the Fourth of July over the summer.

Just before midnight on July 4, golf ball-sized hail began raining down on the area. For many, particularly in the Cranberry area, the hail damage led to lots of new roofs across the community, not to mention an increase of business at auto body shops for hail-dented cars.

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For the ‘Farm Kings,’ the consequences were much more dire.

On tonight’s episode of the Great American Country reality show, which follows the Butler County-based King family on their farm in Valencia, the Kings— including nine brothers, one sister and their mother—deal with the aftermath of massive hail damage.

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According to a preview of tonight’s episode, the family already was enduring a weeks-long drought that put their fragile crops at risk of failure when the sleet hit the area.

Centralized over the Kings' Glade Lake property, the hailstones ripped holes in the plants' vegetation and fruit, sending the majority of the family’s pepper, tomato, and onion crops into near complete failure. The estimated loss was more than $50,000, according to GAC.

The Kings now must take stock of what crops have survived and how much they can save. With the King's be able to recoup the lost profits?

Tune in to tonight’s episode to learn how the Kings handle the storm. The show airs at 9 p.m. on Channel 165 on DISH Network and Channel 326 on DIRECTV. To figure out the channel on your local cable provider, click on this link: http://gac.viewerlink.tv/

In August, Patch was invited to attend a food tasting at the King family’s new market in New Kensington while a camera crew from Great American Country filmed it.

For a full look at the new store and Freedom Farms, plus how the family got its start, click here


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