It’s a memorable experience to spend an hour at The Outback Kangaroo Farm in Arlington, wandering through one of the most entertaining and amazing farms in the Northwest.
Ray and Joey Strom offer a rare opportunity to spent time with a wide variety of farm life at this home along Highway 530, just north of Arlington on the way to Darrington, the North Cascades and the scenic Mountain Loop Highway.
For a relaxing, educational and surprising time, The Outback has a lot to offer.
The adventure begins at the parking lot near the Strom’s gift shop, once you get past the strutting peacock who likes to greet visitors with his fan-like display of his colorful tail feathers.
First stop is at the lemurs’ fenced habitat, the only totally secured area at the farm — simply because these ring-tailed, curious-faced monkeys from Madagascar are highly intelligent, highly active and highly likely to want to explore other places if they had a chance to get free.
After Joey entertains guests with stories of the lemurs as they swing and climb over, around and on her, the tour continues to the open realm of the farm, past ducks, chickens and a tortoise to the kangaroos.
Leading the tour, Ray Strom introduces everyone to kangaroos, wallabys and llamas (who like gently taking food pellets from people’s mouths). The ostrich comes to the fence to see what’s happening and the emus follow him. In another area, a huge turkey spreads its feathers and struts.
Nearby, chickens run around your feet and the piercing cry of peacocks and the coarse crowing of roosters is frequently heard. People also like Oreo, the two-toned miniature horse, and a friendly miniature donkey. Most of the animals were raised at the farm.
There are four tours each day, at 10 a.m., Noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday, during March through October. Reasonable rates are only $8 for adults and $7 for children 2 to 12 years old — only $6 per person for groups of 16 or more.
Don’t forget your cameras.
Creating a kangaroo farm for tours happened by accident and gradual evolution.
Joey Strom never expected to be running a kangaroo farm.But once she did, she chuckled over her name, which can also mean a “joey,” a baby kangaroo.
“How’s that for a coincidence?” she said, smiling.
But it really all started with chickens, then the kangaroos, then more chickens.
“Years ago Ray brought me a photo of a women in peasant clothing feeding a flock of chickens,” she explained. “At the time, we only had three chickens. Now, when I call them for feeding dozens of chickens come running.”
The Stroms operated a Christmas tree farm near Edmonds for several years and wanted to add some friendly animals for people to see and to entertain the kids who came along with their families for tree cutting, she said.
That’s when they added a couple of kangaroos.
“But after Ray retired, and the growth in South Snohomish County took off, we looked for more space and moved to Arlington, buying the Outback Christmas Tree farm that had been here for years,” she said.
As more animals were added, they decided giving tours during the off-season when people weren’t cutting Christmas trees would be a good idea.
Now, they’re providing four tours a day, five days a week. The traveling they once did had to be put aside, but the tours did provide the year-around business they wanted.
“You can’t just live on social security alone anymore,” she said.
When they first opened, Ray said, there would be nobody in the parking lot for a tour some days. But the next day there could be 100 people. The business has grown over the years. The Snohomish County Business Journal published a story about them in 2000 and other newspapers gave them good press.
“But we got a really good boost about three years ago when KING-TVs Evening Magazine broadcast a story on us,” Joey said.
“The host and film crew came for a two-hour stay and ended up being here for seven hours. They just kept finding new things that interested them. They were having so much fun they didn’t want to leave.”
A few others have imitated their farm, on a smaller scale.
“We sell kangaroos and wallaroos when we get babies, $1,200 to $1,500 each, particularly to people starting their own petting zoos,” Ray said. “The Monroe Petting Farm has some of our animals, plus camels and zebras. There’s another place in Fall City and one opening soon in Maple Valley.”
Asked separately, Ray and Joey both agreed about their favorite thing about giving tours at the farm.
“It’s the smiles of the people all the way through the tour,” Joey said. “They start smiling at the lemurs and never stop even after the tour is over. I think they enjoy the old-fashioned nostalgia they find, here, too. It’s fun walking through a farm area, getting close to the animals. We see people feeling a love for the animals and it makes us feel good when people are glad to see we keep our animals clean and loved.”
The whole tour is a stress reliever, too. There are always things going on but the farm is explored at a leisurely pace.
“The best thing about the tours is that it’s fun to see them smile,” Ray said. “It’s rewarding for me and Joey to make them happy. A lot of people have a lot a things going on in their lives and this gives them a chance to relax and focus on something new. They love it. It’s like a giant petting zoo.”
Their favorite visitors? The repeat customers they get to know.
Many of the people live in the area and bring friends and visiting relatives to the farm, she said. Going to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle can be fun “but it’s a long drive and you can’t pet the animals,” she said.
“We also love the grandmas,” Joey said, grinning. “They love bringing their grandchildren … and grandmas sure do buy, too, when she go to the gift shop and leave with stuffed roos and lemurs for souvenirs.”
CONTACT INFORMATION
Outback Christmas Tree and Kangaroo Farm
10030 State Route 530 NE
Arlington, WA 98223
www.christmastreesandroos.com
360-403-7474
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