Just before 9 p.m. on Monday, June 23, Ellie Hollabaugh Vranich was visiting friends with her husband and kids, trying to unwind after another day of brutal heat. Temperatures had pushed past 100 degrees, and she couldn’t stop thinking about its effect on their crop of early summer fruits.

Then the lights went out. Her phone buzzed: the Met-Ed substation in nearby Gardners had overloaded and caught fire. Ellie turned to her husband, Erik. “This won’t be a quick fix,” she said.

A third-generation member of the family-run Hollabaugh Brothers, Inc. in Biglerville, Ellie jumped into action. She gathered their kids—Cooper, 13, and Claire, 10—and rushed to the market. Erik went to check on elderly neighbors.

“Refrigeration was the priority,” she said. The store held 25 feet of freezers full of meats, soups, and ice cream, and another 40 feet of coolers packed with salads, dairy, deli items, baked goods, and fresh produce.

Produce manager Tim Kuhn met them there, and within two hours, they had transferred everything into warehouse coolers that would hold the low temperature longer. “My kids worked like champs,” Ellie said.

But they were only buying time.

Hard Decisions

The peaches were just days from peak ripeness, and the heat was accelerating the pace. Field workers refused to slow down, saying they might as well work since it was just as hot at home. The family delivered cold water and melons to keep everyone safe while scrambling to find generators—not just for the business, but for employee homes.

But a bigger challenge loomed: where to store the harvest. Rumors swirled that it could be weeks before power came back. Since 1999, the longest outage they’d seen had been just a few hours.

“I went deep and dark really fast,” Ellie admitted. “Then I realized I had to adapt and move forward.”

By Tuesday morning, the entire Hollabaugh family had mobilized. Ellie tackled tech and backup systems. Neil and Wayne Hollabaugh coordinated with the insurance company and focused on wholesale operations. Tim chased leads on generators. Everyone had a job.

Then, help arrived.

The Community Stepped In

Ketterman Electricians, a local family-run business, called with good news. They were heading to York to pick up a generator for another client and had found a second one. “They picked it up for us and had it running by Tuesday night,” Ellie said. The generator powered the retail market and its computer systems that support the entire company.

Still, there was one urgent need left: cold storage. Their delivery truck was already full—and not big enough. As the family stood outside the market making frantic calls, a truck pulled in. It was Kyle Perry of KR Perry Trucking in Aspers.

“Just checking if you folks need some help,” he said.

He had a few refrigerated trailers available. A few hours later, the family was loading a 53-foot trailer with peaches, blueberries, nectarines, and apricots.

The harvest was safe.

Costs and Kindness

Between the truck and generator, they burned through 250 gallons of diesel at $3.14 per gallon. “It was a considerable expense,” Ellie said, “but it totally saved the day.”

With no power in the store, they stayed closed Tuesday—but Ellie set up a small cash box stand on the porch, staffed by her daughter Claire, her mother Kay, and their events manager, Ashley Coale. “We didn’t want customers to be disappointed—or see fresh items with short shelf lives go to waste,” Ellie said. Many came by just to see if the family was okay and to offer help.

Thanks to the generator, the store reopened on Wednesday. “We had all of the bakery and prepared foods we had to sell quickly, so we told customers to pay what you wish,” explained Ellie. She also posted the offer on Facebook.

Longtime customers Jeff and Michele Cramer of JAMCO Graphics & Engraving called when they saw the post. “They wanted to buy everything we had left and donate it to the local cooling stations,” Ellie said. She jumped at the offer but insisted the farm would donate it.

More than $1,500 in fresh produce, salads, and baked goods went to the cooling centers opened by the Biglerville and Bendersville Fire Departments. She learned the food was enjoyed by those sheltering from the heat. Ellie, meanwhile, admired those volunteering at the shelters, “Biglerville Elementary even had games and activities for kids.”

By late Wednesday, power was restored. Met-Ed had installed a temporary substation in under 60 hours. “We can’t say enough about their crew,” Ellie said. “They worked around the clock.”

The only thing that didn’t survive were the greenhouse plants—carefully nurtured pumpkins and gourds ready for planting, lettuce, and cucumbers. “It was so disappointing,” Ellie said. “But we had to prioritize.”

The Hollabaughs will probably be reviewing their logistics, insurance, and costs for a while. But what stuck with them most was the people.

“Our community is such a wonderful place,” Ellie said. “Never doubt that.”

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Sunni DeNicola

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Sunni DeNicola spent her career writing—from her work as a journalist at The Orlando Sentinel to manager of technical writing for a division of McKesson Corp. When she moved to Gettysburg 30 years ago, her passion for libraries led her to Gettysburg College’s Musselman Library where her duties included writing and promotional work.