History:
Kreps Apple Barn began in 1984 when Lee Kreps and his son, Doug, envisioned running an apple orchard as a side business. With the help of family and friends, they planted 1150 apple trees that year on the Kreps family farm located on Minx Road in LaSalle, MI. The following year, they planted 500 more.
By the mid-90s, Doug was no longer able to help with the orchard. With the decline in wholesale market, there was just too much fruit for Lee to manage alone. About 500 apple trees were pulled up and the land converted back into farmland.Â
By 2003, Lee decided it was time to retire from running the apple orchard in order to allow for traveling and leisure. After unsuccessfully attempting to rent out the property to other local orchards, Lee was preparing to pull up the remaining apple trees. It was then that a cousin, Brian Kreps decided to try his hand at selling apples. He ran the orchard for 7 years. Then in 2010, Lee's grandson Jimmy McMonagle returned home from college and expressed an interest in running the family's orchard. Under the guidance of his grandfather, Jimmy began caring for the orchard and managing Kreps Apple Barn. He bought his own cider press and converted the old dairy stalls of the barn into the new country store. With the help of his family, Jimmy and his wife, Grace, continue to run the orchard today and envision a bright future for Kreps Apple Barn.Â
