Day 1 - NAFDMA Agritourism Farm Tour

We toured a combination of farm markets, pick-your-own (PYO) farms, play yards, and flower farms.

Gull Meadows

A farm with PYO apples and pumpkins, a farm market, and a play yard.

Air photo clear direct vehicle traffic to the left and pedestrian traffic to the right 

The takeaway here: Traffic control is key! They flipped their entire site recently to help cars and people flow more smoothly and with less risk. Working through a Master Planning exercise in advance will help ensure you don't have to do this in the future. If you are curious about how to plan for parking on your site, check out our article on parking to get some design ideas and planning averages. Anticipate a worst/best-case scenario and make sure your layout can expand to that. For those with a market building, consider alternate "quick shop" parking separate from the main building parking.

Parking Lot Picture

Gull Meadows also did an excellent job with accessibility. Perhaps not by choice, as they did go through a Zoning and Site Plan Approval process, similar to what we would expect to find in Ontario. You will find lots of concrete for barrier-free parking, building access, and limestone paths throughout the property.

They also have great, low-maintenance landscaping, stone, and mulch to reduce grass mowing and weed whacking, especially in high-traffic areas and between buildings.

The bakery window was designed as a mini streetscape 

Kitchen tip: Move the drinks and candy, replacing them with a side location. this keeps that simple traffic away from the main kitchen activities.

Thistleberry Farms

A small farm with flowers and a play yard. A little newer and still working out the kinks, but here are my takeaways from their farm.

Photo op in the Zinnias - which proves to work as they have over 50k followers on Facebook! 

Provide lots of photo ops in your flower fields. Great examples include bathtubs, pianos, a kissing booth, benches, a butterfly chair, a swing, and a mini carousel. Be sure to provide high-contrast objects to the colours of the field.

Put your lavender plants upwind from the main public areas; the aroma wafting was amazing!

Lavender upwind!

Provide plenty of paths in your flowers, or your crop loss will be massive. If you do cut-your-own, make the flowers easy to reach because people will stomp through for the best flower in the middle!

Thistleberry Farms - Yard Layout

Nerf gun wars! They provide a netted area where you can play Nerf gun war. This was a pay-extra to play. Then, there were tire piles and hiding spots to play around in.

Kitchen under a tent!

Consider outdoor kitchens. It may not relieve you of all the regulations, but it may provide opportunities at a lower price point.

Bowerman Blueberries

A long-standing, VERY large blueberry farm. Their commercial blueberry side ships across the United States. They have a farm market with a bakery, PYO blueberries, ice cream, a patio, and a new restaurant in the nearby town of Holland. Here are my takeaways:

Menu of fresh food available using blueberries.

The margins and money are so much better selling directly to the consumer! They continue to aim higher, but 25% of their blueberries make it to their shop - in so many forms beyond just fresh blueberries. Here is a small list of what they have to offer: ice cream, doughnuts, pies, jams, tea, chocolate-covered blueberries, wine, cider, kombucha, blueberry yogurt-covered pretzels, salad dressings, dried blueberries, blueberry BBQ sauce, blueberry pizza, salads, coffee, and there is probably so much more that I am forgetting. That is a lot of diversity, so cooperate with others to help you produce this variety of products. It was easily my biggest store spend because of the variety and uniqueness!

Can you find blueberry wine, blueberry cider, jams, dressings, teas, mugs, and more?

Be on theme. Their blueberry theme is extremely evident everywhere. Blue and blueberry. This creates very strong brand recognition.

Don't just make good food; make it exceptionally good food. They are most known for their doughnuts, but that was well deserved, as they were easily the best on the tour (and we had lots)! We ate supper there, and everything we tried was very good and unique!

The doughnut machine was the largest on the tour, and one of its slogans is, "We came for the doughnuts!"

Go big and make it work. Don't build small and hope to expand. This never helps functionality. Go big and great and make it work seems to be their motto and they are doing an amazing job of it!

Day 2 - NAFDMA Agritourism Farm Tours

Day 2 had a lot more alcohol-based stops, so we got into cider, events, and hosting. Plus, we stopped in and toured the very popular Lewis Adventure Farm & Zoo.

Red Barn Market

A large commercial apple grower has gone agritourism. They have a bakery, cidery, PYO, animals, and a play yard. Their polished exteriors hide the super homey and welcoming shed conversion on the inside. They are still very closely connected to the farm family.

A tour of their cider area.

I walked into the cider area and asked where all the equipment is? I learned that hard cider is VERY low equipment costs. So unlike beer, wine, or hard liquor, it’s an easy entry product. Their ciders are dry but sweet, my favorite!

Arches in the orchard!

Simple interventions like the "arches" in the PYO field make it very photogenic!

The utilize a double fence system to avoid visitors petting the animals.

They allow people to go into the pens with the animals! I was shocked. They do supervise, and they have lower numbers on a weekend (200-300). They say with clear rules, directions, and stern direction by staff it works for them now. Another observation on the farms where no petting was permitted a double fence was installed to eliminate the temptation.

Homey and welcoming vibe. They really have done well to create a place to hang out. They have puzzles and games in the cider dining area and have plans for an exterior patio. They have even fenced the whole property around the apple orchard to allow alcohol drinking throughout the property!

Robinettes Apple Haus & Winery

The first barn conversion! They are a PYO apples, peaches, cherries, etc. With a retail space, winery with tasting, bakery, cider, and food service. Cherries were in season when we arrived! I have fond memories of this with my cousins. Too bad I had to go back over the border. Here are my take aways:

Robinette's marketplace

They had multiple buildings, and it was challenging to navigate the property. They lose significant revenue due to the nature of the building layouts. They could improve their signage, and visual triggers to orient you upon arrival. But they did a great job with reusing buildings in a tight space to maintain that farm nature. There was occasion in the kitchen where the existing building REALLY reduced efficiency, and was not an ideal layout, but they have good “pods” of workflows despite the challenge of an existing building.

Robinette's front of house

They are on a cycling trail so that is great for driving food or treat stops! Some more outdoor seating, bike racks, or a walk-up window would probably really help with their flows and volume!

Ed Dunneback & Girls Farm

This was the next barn conversion to an event space! They have PYO apples and pumpkins, corn maze, strawberries, bakery, hard cidery, food service, and play yard. This farm was very event focused. Stemming from a generational history of barn dances!

The building on the right is the converted event barn, 1 of 3 converted barns on the property.

They don't do weddings. Yes, high value, but also high maintenance. So, they have a whole host of different types of events, barn dances, concerts in the fields, art shows, family reunions, baby showers, dinners, festivals, etc.

Giant pink chair, pink tractor, and pink tables!

Pink branding. There was just enough pink everywhere to remind you of the brand, but not too much that it was overpowering. The pink branding also played into their photo opportunities including a giant Adirondack chair. My favorite pink items were the flowers painted on the back of one of the outbuildings.

Everything beyond the fence and corn crib bin are pay-to-play areas.

They hired a consultant to help them maximize their revenue and functionality. They tweaked their hours so that they could double their revenue and afford a manager. Now, they can take a weekend off themselves. They also relocated the play area and grouped all the ticketed spaces together.

They had a seltzer product, which is a corn or sugar-based alcohol option that also has low start-up costs.

Lewis Adventure Farm & Zoo

This is the cream of the crop for agritourism destinations. They have a farm market building with a bakery, gifts, admission, and some produce. Then they have a play yard with everything: slides, play structure, jump pillow, and low ropes.

There is a splash pad, apple cannons, and a paintball range on the more extravagant side. They also have a large variety of animals, from normal farm animals to exotics, such as kangaroos, lemurs, turtles, peacocks, etc. They go beyond just seeing; they also have animal encounters to pet and feed the animals. Lots of takeaways and ideas at Lewis Adventure Farm & Zoo for those leaning heavily on the theme park direction, but there was a key message:

View from the hilltop. This only shows 1/3 of the site, but it was beautiful and clean!

Build it right the first time. They got lucky for their farm flow and layout, but they didn’t skimp on buildings and structures. There is very little they have “redone” due to poor quick construction. He is often mad about the costs or the infrastructure or regulations that get triggered, but he always is glad he does it after. I think this played a significant part in the cleanliness of the property. Its immaculate!

One of the restroom facilities with attached janitors closet.

Just a quick note: If you build outbuildings for your washroom buildings, don’t forget the janitors closet with supplies located there! For more info about washrooms, head over to this blog - 3 Basic And Important Questions To Get Right At Your Agritourism Destination.

Hay bale hoist and tractor pull! Fun for every age!

Another unique take away was their ability to incorporate some adult play structures and activities. If you can entertain the adults as well, then they will stay longer with the kids - and that equals more revenue.

Bubble station! Great fun and great for pictures!

A quick and easy install was a bubble stand. Anyone can incorporate that with little inputs. Everyone loves bubbles and they make good photos! At Lewis Farm they lean towards low staffed, low maintenance options. Also, perhaps wise to have a bucket of clean water and cloths available for soap in the eyes. South beach bubble is apparently the best supplier!

Well, that’s not it, but it’s all I can share. You’ll have to join me next time and we can discuss ideas along the way. Lots of people got some free tidbits and ideas from me and many others on the trip. You can learn so much from so many people.

If you can’t wait and need some ideas, check out our AgVisioing Service to help you master plan, generate ideas, and start or grow your agritourism journey.