The Barrhead area businesses taking part in Open Farm Days over the Aug. 15-16 weekend saw a much higher volume of visitors than in previous years, particularly amongst people hailing from the Edmonton area and surrounding communities.
Coun. Walter Preugschas delivered a report on this year’s surprisingly successful local Open Farm Days celebration during the County of Barrhead council meeting on Aug. 18.
Alberta Open Farm Days is actually an ongoing annual two-day event that began eight years ago. As part of the celebration, more than 80 farms and agricultural businesses across the province throw open their gates to visitors, particularly those from urban areas, in an attempt to showcase the agricultural industry and perhaps foster a better connection across the food chain.
For this year’s event, the County of Barrhead and Wild Alberta offered a guided tour on Saturday, Aug. 15. Following a registration at De Herdt Gardens, visitors were led out to the Mellowdale Dairy north of Barrhead, Koberstein Farm east of town and the Shady Lane Estate Winery to the south.
Preugschas, who was involved in last year’s event as a member of the Agricultural Service Board (ASB), said they had as many as 100 people sign up for the tour, but there were many more people who just showed up at the different stops on the route.
“(The turnout) might be as high as 250. So that’s a significant increase from about 40 to 50 last year,” he said, adding they got a lot of positive comments.
Preugschas said the highest percentage of visitors were from the Edmonton area and surrounding communities, such as Stony Plain and Sherwood Park.
He indicated it was a great opportunity to foster a deeper connection between urban people and agriculture.
“And I think it is an opportunity for this area to get exposure to city people, so they know Barrhead even exists … and it’s a viable community where you can live and work,” he added.
Pots n’ Pansies Greenhouse & Garden Centre, which is located southwest of Barrhead, also welcomed visitors throughout Saturday and Sunday.
Shelley Batdorf, who owns Pots n’ Pansies with her husband Roy, estimated they probably had over 100 to 150 visitors.
Shelley said they had a number of vendors set up selling fresh vegetables, homemade soaps and antiques. Kids got to do some very simple crafts and they also did some “ladybug releases” where thousands of ladybugs were unleashed to eat up pests like aphids and spider mites.
Noting that this was their first year taking part in the event, Shelley said, “We were quite pleased with it.”
During the Aug. 18 council meeting, Preugschas noted he was going to attend a meeting the following day with the participants in Open Farm Days to hash over what went right and what went wrong.
He suggested to his fellow councillors that the guided tour might not be offered in 2021, as he was no longer sure it was the right fit for the event, as it might not be too manageable with a lot of people and many visitors go their own way anyway.
County manager Debbie Oyarzun, who had participated in Open Farm Days as a visitor and an operator, also suggested that they need to look at whether a structured tour is necessary or if they should just get more farms to participate.
In a follow-up interview on Aug. 20, Preugschas said that while everyone was happy with the turnout, they agreed that next year more must be done in terms of ensuring visitors have a good experience.
“I think for next year it will be decided that we have to be a little bit better organized,” he said.
