Water-Logged Spring Dampens Avon's Outdoor Businesses

March’s winter thaw couldn’t come soon enough for area farmers, landscapers and contractors, but who knew their businesses would be dampened and snagged by one of the soggiest springs on record? 

With almost seven inches of rainfall last month, Cleveland experienced its wettest April in over 100 years, and since then the precipitation simply hasn’t let up. It has rained on 39 of the last 56 days, and folks are hoping that next week’s sunny forecasts can, well, hold water. 

Avon’s farmers and landscapers have had an especially difficult time contending with the intemperate weather. 

"By this time, we've started putting crops in the fields, but this year, we're a little bit behind,” Rita Fitch, co-owner of , said. “We are open for sales of plants, but other than that, we're hoping the weather will straighten out and we'll not have as much rain. The horrible rain did a lot of damage a couple of nights ago on any progress we made. We're trying to be positive about the future." 

Carl Konyesni, co-owner of , and his crew are cutting and hedging carefully, as the water-logged properties of his customers require extra attention. 

His biggest problem is cutting thick, wet grass without disrupting the soft soil beneath it. To do this, his team is using walk-behind mowers versus sit-down ones, he said. Even then, tire tracks are made but there isn’t an alternative as large plots of tall grass need to be cut if they’re ever going to dry out properly. 

The story isn’t much different for outdoor contractors who have faced repeated delays. 

 “I can’t remember when we’ve seen it this bad,” Kevin Rauscher, owner of , said. “It’s constant. I mean, you typically see a wet month, but now you’re getting months. Usually, by now, the rain has stopped and you at least get a week of dry weather. 

“The best we’re getting is three days with the rain. But at this point, the ground is so saturated, you’ve got lots of flooding and it makes it that much harder to get anything accomplished. Customers have been understanding, but they’re about as sick of it as we are. Anybody that’s on schedule – God bless them.”