Posts Tagged ‘Fun’

Pumpkin Marketing a 500 level course, Competitive Advantage, #Agritourism, #buylocal, eatlocal

Saturday, October 24th, 2009
My what sharp teeth you have?!

My what sharp teeth you have?!

Let me at em'

Let me at em'

Well I ain’t braggin but hey, sometimes even a blind nut finds a squirl….. or somethang like that? You C right up the street from us not even five minutes away lives this big ole’ metal dinasaur, and he ain’t purple! I have driven by it for a couple of years and this year I just stopped in to see if he might be interested in coming over to play?

Well his owner Mike West of Wild West Entertainment is just about as nice of guy as you could meet and he said “sure we can come over”. We worked out a dinasaur dinner budget (he’s gotta eat ya know), and well two weeks now are history, and the crowds just love to come to Maize Valley to see Megasaurus do it’s version of “Making Pumpkin Pie” Maize Valley Style. We are reloading for one more show on October 24th to highlight Megasaurus’s unique dinning style of cars and pumpkins. Now This is what I call Eating Local!

This fall has been a weather diasaster for us. We have had rain EVERY weekend since we opened the corn maze and fall harvest activities. But ya know what, our sales are down but not like they should be with the terrible weather we have encountered. We have lost all our Friday nights, and most all our haunted nights due to either direct rain or mud that made things unsafe. We upped the anti this year, the new maze games outlined in previous posts I think are paying off . The maze is staying in pretty good shape considering the weather, crowds and poor condition of the corn to start with.

I addition even though the haunt has not opened (one night so far) it allowed me to leverage marketing dollars from a local sponser excited about working with us and I was able to purchase several thousand dollars in radio that has in turn leveraged some other unique marketing ideas.

With this promotional push I had the confidence to go ahead and book Megasaurus which is a national quality act seen at Monster Truck shows all over North America (A similar machine sold for over $500,000 recently). And the story goes on with an agreement for next season as well and possible additional sponsors due the momentum and scope of our efforts to date and plans for next year. “And the beat goes on…..and the beat goes on”!

It’s all fun and games till somebody pokes an eye out or something like that I think Mom used to say… But hey when trying to carve our your place in the pumpkin selling world….sometimes it’s better to be lucky (have a megasaurus live up the street) than good!

Vines, Wines, and Pines 5K Went AWESOME!! #Agritourism, #Farm

Friday, July 17th, 2009
Great food from Subway, and cool awards from Maize Valley

Great food from Subway, and cool awards from Maize Valley

On your mark!

On your mark!

It's not like your getting married or anything...Uh maybe it is??

It's not like your getting married or anything...Uh maybe it is??

What an awesome day! Our Third 5K race went off without a hitch and to the raves of the participants. It is really ALL about them anyway because without runners….we don’t have a race! Thanks to Cope Equipment for providing the Gator to lead the race, and Terry, Sally and crew of R&S racing who time the race and make it all go sssoooooo smooth!

The entire race takes place on our property and our next door neighbors, Moore Christmas Tree Farm thanks to them too!

Part of what we are working at is branding Maize Valley as “Destination Health” if ya get my drift. You see we grow all these healthy veggies, sell all this good for you locally grown food, have all this open space to exercise in I mean hey, how could you not get healthier hangin’ with us?

As part of creating a first class agritourism destination we had mostly been focused on the “Fall Season” with pumpkins, corn mazes, wagon rides etc. But you see I maintain all the trails and fields all year long just because we like to keep things looking neat.

Well I got to thinking why don’t we have more events and get more use out of the grounds? So we have events more often now and we are even working at developing walking trails in partnership with local health care businesses to promote an over all healthy lifestyle that is FUN and rewarding.

Come join us for the “Stomp The Grapes” half marathon on October 3rd if you are ready for the challenge!!

And if ya just want to have fun….get married!! We had a bridal party run in the race, come back for the shower, then regroup and close the place down too!!

At Maize Valley, We Make Great Wine…FUN!!!

Corn Maze Update, “It’s in the Field”!

Thursday, July 16th, 2009
Carving the "Circle MV"
Fresh Cut Pathway

Fresh Cut Pathway

Corn Maze Paths just after cutting

Corn Maze Paths just after cutting

Getting started cutting the corn maze

Getting started cutting the corn maze

This is our Tenth Anniversary Corn Maze, wow has it been that long??!! Well we are getting started and combining the maze with our new Civil War Re-enactment set to go on August 15th and 16th. Corn looks kinda short we will see, just not enough sun and heat so far. If we don’t make Aug. it will be Labor Day Weekend.

I have been getting several inquiries as to how we do our mazes and why we do things certain ways. Keep in mind this agritourism thing is a process of evolution. Not all things work at all locations. You can learn by seeing what others do and then trying certain aspects on your own place. But most of all keep asking questions. I don’t think “outside the box”, I crawl up on top of it, pick it up, & turn it over. I look at agritourism from all sides now!

We hire Rob Stoffer with Precision Mazes to handle the cut and Hugh McPherson of Maize Quest for the design and activity content. We have done it all in-house over the years but we just have too much going on now and have created such an expectation of excellence with our guests that it is now time to rely on the professionals. My brain just ain’t big enough to get it all done anymore, I don’t know if it ever was, I think I was just lucky. We have done NASCAR/NAPA, Bridgestone/Bigfoot, Formula One Racing and more. It has been a fun ride and a great way to make money while bringing such fun to families!

Keep in touch as we install the games, trivia, and all the other stuff that makes a Maize Valley an Adventure, not just a walk in a corn field. Check out the links under “Agritourism” to learn more about the great partners we have!

a p90x client, a farmer, and a biker walk into a bar….

Monday, May 25th, 2009
p90x Yoga, will absolutly kick your butt!!  "Let's get busier"

Well it sounds like a joke right? No it is just me. I guess this is sort of an “about the author blog post“. On a personal note but a business one too because for me those worlds are hopelessly intertwined.

All my life I have had a decent build without working at it much, you know like a lot guys, sort of an athlete but not really. I work a lot and don’t make a ton of cash but I pretty much call the shots how my days go. I figured I can’t afford unecessary “health care” and it is my responsibilty to maintain what god gave me to my best ability.

So last winter I bought the p90x set of DVD’s. My wife and I started in Jan. and love it. It will end up being more like p forever x but that is ok. I try and eat as right as I can but we don’t follow the plan, but again that is ok I am in the best shape of my life anyhow. We found we needed and liked the structure that we got with the p90x workouts and Tony Horton has the same weird sense of humor I do so “it’s all good” I guess.

Another big reason for the fitness plan is I am trying to develop Maize Valley as not only an Agri-Tourism destination but sort of a “destination health” with our homegrown produce and other “good for you” things we grow and sell. We have walking trails in the vineyard and fields too. So if I am going to talk the talk I better Walk the Walk!

Getting off you butt and doing it is probably the hardest part but if you do, you won’t regret it!

Besides I just might be around longer to irritate my kids too!! Sweeeeeeat!!!

Entertainment, Food, Great Wine and More at Maize Valley!!

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
LaCressant Bud looking for some sunshine

LaCressant Bud looking for some sunshine

Sorry for missing a few days here, been REAL busy in the field planting, spraying, getting Agri-Tourism stuff ready and all, just not enough time to blog away about it. As you can see by the pic the Buds are breaking, leaves are shaking, just more stuff happeing out there than I can keep up with and here I sit at a Keyboard!!! Yikes, Rut Row, and I could get it done if were not for those meddling kids…….oh sorry wrong story.

Real quick we had a great time in the Winery Cafe’ last weekend. Lots of folks hit our delicatessen hard Saturday both for take home and menu items, we had three tour buses in the afternoon then capped the night off with an awesome performance from Bongo Joe and Steve-O. They do a great Rockin’ Blues sound and are hear about once a month and will also be back for our 1st Blues Fest July 11th too! Check the vid below.

I’ll be back soon with stuff from the vineyard and farm. We moved the Corn maze Tower/Stairs yesterday and today and have pics of the move. Plus I put the kritters out on pasture today too, but got more work to do today yet.

Later

FT