Holiday Barn Pet Resorts turns 50

A passion for dogs and cats (and an idea from a veterinarian friend) prompted former Henrico County music teacher Emerson Hughes and his wife, Kathy, to begin a pet boarding kennel on their farmland in Glen Allen in 1972.

Fifty years later, their original vision for Holiday Barn Pet Resorts lives on – and the business remains in their family.

The couple took the idea hatched by veterinarian Bill Clark and opened “Holiday Barn Kennel” half a century ago on their seven-acre site on Mountain Road, offering dog and cat boarding, dog grooming, and some retail sales. In the early stages of the business, young “pet petters” were hired to provide affection to the boarded animals.

At the time the couple started their business, Emerson Hughes was a chorus teacher at a Henrico high school who also worked as a marketing director for the Richmond Symphony and as part-time choral director at Randolph-Macon College. His wife was still involved in musical performances in the community, active in her church choir, and caring for their two small children at home. The couple had to work other jobs to pay for their new start-up business. But it was worth it to them.

“I am a people person and I am a pet person, and both go hand in hand,” Emerson Hughes said.

Today, their son Michael has taken over the reins of the business, which has experienced steady growth this year at its original location and a second one in Midlothian.

“When my parents started this, it was a big thing,” said Michael Hughes. “We had dogs, pigs, horses, and all of a sudden you get wrapped up at a very young age in this big venture. As a kid, my heart got wrapped up in every single dog that I could spend time with at the kennel.”

The business today offers its core dog boarding and cat boarding services, as well as obedience training by professional trainers, dog daycare, a grooming spa, and canine enrichment activities at both locations.

In the late 1990s, Emerson Hughes wanted to install a swimming pool for the dogs at the kennel. Most pools at that time were constructed of concrete, but he was afraid that it would be rough on the dogs’ feet, so he sought out a company in Deltaville that built fiberglass commercial fish tanks. The “fish tank pool” is still in use at Holiday Barn’s Glen Allen location.

“Before our grooming facility was built, I remember when my wife Kathy used to groom dogs in our kitchen with our infant daughter Bekah in a bassinet in the room over,” said Hughes. “So much has changed since then and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ve said this all along, it's not the money, it's settling the stress and letting the dog and the owner both enjoy vacation.”