By GRAHAM BROOKS / Staff Writer

HELENA–It’s safe to say that the Griffins are animal lovers.

The Griffin family farm consists of roughly 160 acres located off Shelby County 17 in Helena and the moment you cross through the gate, livestock will greet you.

Once getting to the driveway and exploring the backside of the house, even more animals are discovered and those animals are now the foundation for a new business in town called Griffin Farm Parties.

Jamie and Amy Griffin, along with their two daughters, Sawyer and Cricket, live on the farm and an idea that began in 2014 has now blossomed into a successful business that Amy plans to take over full-time.

“We’ve lived here for about five years,” said Amy. “Jamie grew up in this house and this is his family’s property and then we moved into it and renovated it. Jamie has always been an animal lover and I grew up with just the typical dog and nothing else. When we moved in here temporarily, he just slowly started collecting animals because of working at the co-op. It’s a real accomplishment for him and now for me to bring back an animal that was sick or was born early or abandoned.”

Once the Griffins had multiple animals on the property, Amy began to think of ways to utilize the old barn next to the house. After cleaning out the barn and getting rid of old farming supplies, Amy thought of the possibility of hosting birthday parties with the animals.

After receiving many positive reactions from friends who saw the animals, that’s when Amy began to get serious about hosting parties.

“When we started getting the reaction from people of ‘this is so cool’ or ‘this is so unique,’ my gears started turning and I’m thinking well I can make something of this and that’s when I realized all the stuff in this barn we could clean it out and host something and see what happens.”

After hosting a birthday party for a family member, Amy said once photos of the petting zoo birthday party hit social media, it snowballed from there and Griffin Farm Parties was born.

Two years later, the business is continuing to grow more and more.

The Griffins now spend the majority of their weekends hosting children’s birthday parties that include a petting zoo, picnic tables under a covered barn and a large area for children to play.

However, the space isn’t limited to just birthday parties, and one of the goals for the business is to eventually host school field trips and possible weekday events.

“I would say that our specialty is birthday parties and it’s usually younger kids but we’re not limited to younger kids by any means,” said Amy. “Just this past weekend we did a wedding shower and we’ve done one actual wedding and we have two more weddings that we have deposits on. We’ve done baby showers, corporate events and family reunions. There’s potential for anything and we’re open to any ideas.”

For those wishing to book a birthday party event, children will have the opportunity to feed animals such as Tiny and Tony the Llamas, two mini horses, Bobo the mini donkey, numerous goats, a potbelly pig, a mini cow, a sheep, turkeys and chickens in a two-hour party time slot.

Amy will continue to book events at the farm and her favorite part is getting to share the animals and lifestyle with others.

“My favorite part has truly been able to just share this lifestyle with people who don’t always live it,” said Amy. “I never lived it, and now that it’s my life it has become my normal. It’s really refreshing to host an event and to recognize and remember that it’s not everybody’s normal. To see the little kids be so excited and to get to see their faces light up when they get to pet them and touch them, I just feel really blessed to be able to live this lifestyle.”

For more information or to book an event with Griffin Farm Parties, visit Griffinfarmparties.com