Farmers, Restaurant Owners Talk Agri-tourism
GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — More than 40 area restaurant owners, farmers and "foodies" gathered at the Castle Street Cafe on Wednesday afternoon discussed the merits of marketing at all levels.While the topic was agriculture and culinary tourism, the discussion at the Berkshire Visitors Bureau's monthly Tourism Talkback shifted back and forth between marketing to locals versus marketing to tourists. Nancy Thomas, co-founder of the Mezze Restaurant Group, said promoting the local farm-to-table movement should go beyond the confines of the county.
"Storytelling is marketing. We need to tell the farm-to-table story on a national level," she said. "Farm-to-table is a lifestyle idea for a lot of people. The time is right to do this. I think we're losing out by not doing it."
While capitalizing on the growing "locavore" trend across the country may attract more visitors to the area, Barbara Zheutlin, executive director of Berkshire Grown, thinks that investing in the local crowd has proved more successful thus far.
"Bringing in more people to support these networks is something we’re still working on," she said. "The Harvest Supper brings so many people together; chefs and farmers can actually sit down and relax a bit. There's a lot of time for chatting and that's where a lot of networks are made. The audience at these events is local, and we want to keep people coming from around the county."
In addition to the Harvest Supper and Berkshire Grown's notable presence in South County, Zheutlin said she is focusing this year on bringing “people who love food” more venues in North County.
Amy Cotler, author of "The Locavore Way" (Storey Publications, 2009), said that while drawing visitors to the area is necessary, the tourism industry shouldn't lose sight of the farmers.
"We need to find out what farmers are interested in engaging in this and how it would improve agriculture in the area," she said.
Farmer Dominic Polumbo, owner of Moon In the Pond Farm in Sheffield, said, as a farmer, he is more than willing to work with area restaurants and educators to get the word out about the county's vibrant agricultural life.
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"Agri-tourism is actually culinary tourism," he said. "People want to see the kinds of farms that their food is coming from. It's important that we in the Berkshires take advantage of the skills, quality and diversity of the things we have happening here."
Other suggestions for promoting agri-tourism included a "Berkshires Restaurant Week" (not limited to Berkshire Grown members), farm tours, a "fiddlehead festival" and expansion of Berkshire Grown’s annual Farmed and Foraged event.
The key, according to Lauri Klefos, president and CEO of the Visitors Bureau, is to create a wider audience, both nationally and locally.
"We need to make sure that the residents here are saying good things about the restaurants here," she said. "We need to be really involved in reaching out to the community. Our creative platform for 2011 is the 'insider’s guide.' We want to give visitors the sense that they are getting what others are not."
According to Polumbo, the best way to do that really is to consult with the insiders.
"I think what we may be missing is selling our community to our community," he said. "Creating a local food identity needs to be an important part of our strategy. The locals could be the ambassadors to our cause."
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