A year after tornadoes spawned by Hurricane Milton tore through St. Lucie County, Al\u2019s Family Farms has reopened its beloved citrus shop, marking a major milestone for the third-generation business and its loyal customers.<\/p>\n
The shop\u2019s iconic red barn off Kings Highway was packed on Saturday with community members celebrating the return of a local staple many feared might not come back.<\/p>\n
WATCH: ” We’re still here” – Al’s Family Farms reopens to the public one year after Hurricane Milton<\/p>\n
\u201cOh we were glad to see that,\u201d said Fort Pierce resident Sandra Foster, who’s been visiting Al’s Family Farms for the last 12 years.<\/p>\n
Fresh paint, a taller barn and a remodeled store greeted visitors as they stepped back into one of the few remaining citrus farms in South Florida.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo see it now as it is I think it’s just a relief for the community and everybody\u2019s really just excited that we\u2019re still here because they look at us as like a staple in the community,\u201d said Matthew Schorner of Al\u2019s Family Farms.<\/p>\n
Just over a year ago, the farm\u2019s signature barn was left in disarray. Splintered wood, twisted metal and widespread structural damage littered the property after multiple tornadoes touched down in Fort Pierce. The destruction left a void in the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo this is like the last of the Mohegans as far as citrus goes because we actually have a store where you can come and buy your own citrus, get the citrus ice cream,\u201d Schorner said. \u201cWe\u2019re the last one that does all that and even makes fresh juice right here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead of replacing everything lost, the Schorner family salvaged what they could, including pieces of the original barn. They embraced the recovery with the help of the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf it hadn\u2019t been for folks like you and the community we wouldn\u2019t have had the wind in our sails and we wouldn\u2019t have had, certainly, the strength to do it,\u201d said owner Jeff Schorner during the ribbon-cutting ceremony.<\/p>\n
Residents like Foster say the rebuild felt remarkably swift considering the scale of damage. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe just keep going by watching the progress, but they did do it pretty quick,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Previous coverage: Al’s Family Farms celebrates comeback from tornado damage<\/p>\n
Now restored, the barn stands as a symbol of resilience and the farm\u2019s enduring 48-year legacy in St. Lucie County.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a lot of ideas for things we can do to make this place even better because we\u2019re planning on being here for a long time,\u201d Matthew Schorner said.<\/p>\n
Al\u2019s Family Farms is once again open to the public, welcoming back customers with citrus, fresh juice and traditions rooted deep in the community.<\/p>\n
Portions of this story were assisted by artificial intelligence tools and reviewed by a WPTV journalists to ensure accuracy, clarity, and adherence to editorial standards.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A year after tornadoes spawned by Hurricane Milton tore through St. Lucie County, Al\u2019s Family Farms has reopened…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[171,173,172],"class_list":{"0":"post-48956","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-port-st-lucie","8":"tag-port-st-lucie","9":"tag-port-st-lucie-headlines","10":"tag-port-st-lucie-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}