At the Tri-State Agritourism Conference, three local convention and visitor bureau (CVB) pros talked about what they can do with local agritourism businesses. CVBs can help agritourism operatorsput together group tours. Karen Hood represented Pulaski County TBVC (Tourism Bureau and Visitors Center) from Missouri, Amanda Davis represented Miami CVB from Oklahoma and Craig Hull represented…
Agritourism is the crossroads where agriculture and tourism meet. Current travel trends support agritourism: more short getaway trips, more travel by car, more last minute trips, and more family time. The general population is three to five generations removed from the family farm. Many people go to agritourism businesses in order to buy direct from…
[Longtime reader Johnita Crawford sent me this terrific report from the WeKan conference, all about rural tourism in Kansas. Many great ideas in here, ripe for the picking! –Becky ] By Johnita Crawford Wow! I’m still flying from the great day I spent at the WeKan conference I attended in Salina! Johnita Crawford and Mary…
Talking events and festivalsat Red Carpet Country meeting. At the Red Carpet Country annual meeting, one of the big hits was the panel on events and festivals. They shared stories of local events that started with a few dozen or a few hundred attendees, and have grown to thousands. The total economic impact of those…
[Melyn Johnson is the Main Street Manager in Guymon, Oklahoma. She always amazes me with her innovative projects in tourism and community development. She is also incredibly generous at sharing her knowledge. She wrote this piece for her “On the Bricks” column, in the Guymon Daily Herald. It’s been reprinted in other area papers, and she…
From the rural entrepreneurship newsletter: e2 Training Goes Online! Craig Schroeder, with the RUPRI Center, will present a three-part webinar series on Energizing Entrepreneurs (e2) this spring. Participants are strongly encouraged to register for all three sessions to gain the full benefit of this training and successfully apply it in their work. The first session…
My friend Cort Anderson has offered us this gift, some of what he is hearing in an agritourism workshop. The lessons are certainly useful for all types of tourism related business. Today was the first day of Agritourism: Your Next Cash Crop? a five day workshop put on by the Kansas Dept. of Commerce and…
The average age of US farmers is over 57.Photo by Becky McCray Here is a chance to double down in San Francisco on 24 January 2011. Two million young people—many of them from rural backgrounds—have served in the U.S. military since the attacks of 9/11. These veterans are facing extremely hard times, with very high…
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