PUTNEY — The staff at Putney's Harlow's Sugar House received a surprise visitor on Oct. 7, when a Subaru crashed through the front of the building shortly before noon.
According to the report issued by Vermont State Police, the car “came to rest completely inside” the farm stand. The report noted the driver of the car was Risa Knapp of Brattleboro.
“The car came through the outside wall, and took out 12 to 18 feet of the wall,” owner Douglas Harlow told The Commons.
Harlow characterized his shop's construction as “barn-like,” and noted “a lot of boards went haywire.” Other than the collision making “a big mess,” repairs could have been worse had the building been constructed differently, he said.
“That afternoon was pretty hectic,” Harlow said, as he and his staff cleaned up.
The next day, Tavern Hill Builders arrived and “we worked around people,” Harlow said. He noted most of the merchandise lost in the crash was quickly replaced from product Harlow had in storage.
He credits Tavern Hill Builders with allowing his business to remain open during “our big weekend.”
Harlow also expressed gratitude for last Friday's rain - the weather kept visitors at bay for an extra day while Harlow and his staff re-set the front section of the store.
“It's not interrupting our business now,” he said.
“We lucked out in a lot of ways,” Harlow said. “Nobody got hurt."
Information about whether charges would be filed was not available by press time.