Cambridge City's Dougherty Orchard featured on hit TLC series '90 Day Fiancé'

CAMBRIDGE CITY — Indiana is so much more than just a drive-by or flyover state with nothing but corn as mentioned by Clayton Clark.

It also has apple orchards.

For local fans of the hit TLC television series "90 Day Fiancé," many may have been surprised when they saw a local apple orchard featured on the program a couple weeks ago.

The episode in question was the eighth in season 10 titled "Do You Take One Another," when Clark and Analí Vallejos visited Dougherty Orchards in Cambridge City over the summer.

Dougherty Orchards is the oldest family-owned apple orchard in the state as it has been in operation since 1883, growing 33 different varieties of apples along with pumpkins, pears and sunflowers.

Clark, from Lexington, Kentucky and Vallejos, from Chiclayo, Peru, visited the orchard back in July for the series to visit Clark's sister Brandi, where the two had "fond childhood memories."

The purpose of the visit, as it appears in the show, was to be the second meeting of Vallejos and Brandi after the initial meeting didn't go well.

"Brandi and Analí meeting for a second time is really important to me," Clark said in the show. "Because I care about them both very much ... I'm not just going to send Analí packing because my sister doesn't like her. They have to get along."

Vallejos said in the show that in the first meeting between the two, Brandi was "very rude," which led to Brandi inviting the two to Dougherty Orchards as she "felt bad."

"I just thought that this would be a nice place and it's like a childhood memory, so maybe he will forget how big of a b**** I was being," Brandi said. "I didn't react the way I wanted to last time, but it was like an information overload all at once, finding all this stuff out. I want him to be happy."

Brandi admitted she had a lot of doubts about the two's relationship, but that she would keep them to herself the best she could.

The second meeting ended positively, with Vallejos and Brandi hugging each other and fighting through tears as they understood each other's sides, Brandi for being protective of her little brother and Vallejos for leaving Peru and her mother to find love.

"Brandi's finally starting to get to know the Analí that I know," Clark said. "The one that she should have known the first time had she just asked normal questions."

Owner ignored initial request for filming, unaware of it was from TLC

Andra Dougherty-Solis, a sixth-generation owner of the orchard, has owned it since 2004, taking it over with her brother and sister when her parents died. While they still work together, Dougherty-Solis took over as the sole owner in 2016.

As owner and administrator of the orchard's Facebook page, she said that with 20,000 followers comes along some unusual messages about people wanting to film there, whether it's a college student filming for a project or likewise.

So when Dougherty-Solis received the message from someone who appeared to have no connection to TLC but was in fact a producer reached out to her, she initially ignored it.

"There was a message that said 'Hey, I have a film crew that's interested in filming at the orchard,' and I actually didn't even reply," she said. "At that moment I thought I'll get back to it, and later that afternoon, I got another message that said 'We'd really like to talk to you about filming.'"

Seeing how interested this person was, Dougherty-Solis asked who they were to which they stated they were with TLC and more specifically "90 Day Fiancé."

"Oh, yay! That's a little different," Dougherty-Solis said her reaction was upon finding out.

After exchanging messages, the crew came in July right around the time the orchard was just getting open for the season, but not what would be considered the busiest time of orchard season.

Speaking to Brandi and Clayton, Dougherty-Solis had learned that the two had grown up not too far away in Connersville, and with the fond memories the two had there, Clark wanted to bring his fiancé there.

"We thought that was really cool that that was why they chose us, instead of somewhere more close to where they were," Dougherty-Solis said. "They came and it was a wonderful experience even though the weather was not ideal. It had been raining, but they were doing everything so professionally."

After the 6-hour filming session was finished, Dougherty-Solis and her husband, who also speaks Spanish, were able to talk more with Clark and Vallejos, adding that Clark has sent them multiple messages thanking them and sharing photos taken during their visit.

Exposure comes at time of 140th anniversary of Dougherty Orchard

Since its founding, Dougherty-Solis said the family has taken pride in enjoying what they do because of the traditions and good memories that families and people have there.

Over time, the orchard has grown to so much more than just picking apples outside.

In the past year, they have added a winery to go along with another recent addition in a greenhouse. The orchard also has a bar, a tasting room, a store to shop inside and even a petting farm that has been in place since either 1993 or 1994.

"You walk around a pond that's filled with koi fish and it has mostly been farm animals, but over the years we've had some exotic animals like a zebra, camel and a kangaroo," she said. "But mostly it's farm animals with potbellied pigs, regular pigs, zebu, Highlander cows and Babydoll sheep."

She continued, "It's just a nice thing and so many kids or even families just don't have that farm experience. It's a nice chance for kids to come out and feed animals and get to experience it."

The orchard has also been known to hold events for special occasions as well, such as weddings or field trips, and on Friday nights live and free entertainment by local artists from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. from the beginning of June until the end of October that also features food trucks and in-house food once in a while.

While the orchard is officially closed for the season, having just finished up holiday hours on Dec. 10, Dougherty-Solis said the next big event that they will be celebrating will be the solar eclipse, where they have planned a weekend for live music under their 4,000 square foot tent or pavilion if it's completed by then with indoor seating as well, along with food being provided.

Dougherty-Solis said she is unsure if the exposure provided by the reality show will give them an influx of business next season due to its size and out-of-the-way location, but said that it's still a big honor and means a lot to her family that they were chosen.

"They put a shot of our sign and we felt they were very kind to give us some nice exposure and it was just a great experience," she said. "There was no financial gain to it, but we like to do things for the community and for people to see. If an opportunity came again to do something similar, it would be a great experience for anybody."

This article originally appeared on Richmond Palladium-Item: Wayne County Dougherty Orchard featured on hit TLC show 90 Day Fiance