Warm Fall Greetings

Fall is finally here, and sweater weather is just around the leaf pile. The second annual Agritourism Travel Agency exhibit at the great State Fair was a tremendous success! We had volunteers almost every hour of every day, and the walls of the corner booth were covered with year-round pictures of your farms and wineries. New members paid their dues and collected their liability signs. I look forward to getting around the state to your farm or winery this coming year and taking more pictures. I’ll call before I come!

Agritourism Travel Agency was a popular stop for fair visitors. Commissioner Troxler shows off his GOT to Be NC Agritourism golf shirt standing by brochure rack constructed by staff at the Cherry Research Farm and the Horticulture Crops Research Station

January Meeting Plans Moving at Fast Pace
The registration form and agenda for the first statewide Agritourism Networking Association conference will soon be emailed and mailed to our membership. Make plans to attend as a great program is planned for panels on insurance, zoning, highway signage, marketing, and working with local and state officials on matters of importance to agritourism farmers and winery/vineyard owners. The location is Caraway Conference Center about 12 miles north of Asheboro. Deadline for registration will be Thursday, January 4, 2007, so mark you calendars. You will pay for your registration (and rooms if you’re arriving Thursday night) with your registration form, and each person will send a registration form for ease of reporting attendance and room reservations.

Nominating Committee Needs Volunteers
If you would like to volunteer to recruit new officers and board members, or serve in some capacity in one of those positions, please contact Dwight Austin, your president. We need a nominating committee of four – five people. Offices are president, vice-president, secretary, treasurer, and seven district representatives in districts that are geographically the same as the Extension districts. If you’re interested in serving as an officer or district representative and want to know what their responsibilities are, I can send you a copy of our bylaws.

Agritourism Travel Agency Staff Worked Long Hours
I want to give a great big "THANK YOU" to the following agritourism farmers and winery owners for their monetary support and to those who volunteered to work at the Agritourism Travel Agency, encouraging visitors to visit their farms and your farm or winery - Red Alderman, Dwight, Sharon, Robert and Jeff Austin, Julia Bircher and Melissa Barnett, Marvin and Debbie Bost, Norma Burns, Marilyn Cade, Judy Combs, Minnie and Homer Daniel, Milton Ganyard, Teresa Johnson, Carol Kline who teaches NCSU and recruited three students who worked for class credit, Linda Hall, John Hill, Mary Betty and Ossie Kearney, Paul and Kristi Marshall, Greta Lint, Karen Miller, Carla Peterson, Mitzi Powers, Harley Prewitt, James Sharp, Margaret Shelton and her young 4-H friend, Sam and Levonia Stancil, Pat and Thad Taylor, Joy Thomas, David and Tami Thompson, Marti Spillman Utter, Ken Walker who "lent us" James Gregory, a staff member, Melinda Vaughan, Butch Velez and Andy Zeman.

Thanks to our many sponsors, supporters and volunteeers

With your help, we raised almost $2600!! Susan DeCatsye, an NCDA employee who worked with me last year in our first Agritourism Travel Agency, was paid $1500 for the ten 12-hour days she worked with me. ANA also was able to pay for the rental cost of one of the two filing cabinets we needed for an "office" look and for product and brochure display space, and for half of the fifty-two Got to Be NC Agritourism golf shirts. Commissioner Troxler wore his Agritourism shirt one day and came by the booth for a picture. There are extra shirts, and they will be sold for $10 at the January meeting. The NCDA Agribusiness Section chipped in the other half of the cost of the shirts and the second filing cabinet. Our bank balance now exceeds $6000.

ANA Sign shows sons Robert and Jeff as heirs to Ginger Creek Winery

News Blips from ANA Members ***
Silver Coast Winery at Ocean Isle Beach has garnered 16 medals in recent weeks *** Jim and Judy Mitchell, Mitchell’s Nursery and Greenhouse, will be receiving the Business Leader of the Year Award from the King Chamber of Commerce in Stokes County on Nov.16 at the chamber’s annual banquet *** from The Northwest Observer in Guilford County: “The Summerfield Town Council is expected to vote on whether to add agricultural tourism to the town development ordinances tojoin ordinances already in place in Stokesdale and Guilford County. Hardin Farm and Stables, owned and operated by the Hardin family since 1960, has evolved from a family farm to a viable business enterprise [including] farm tours, petting zoo, and horseback riding lessons, horse boarding and trail riding.” *** J. H. Stepp Farms in Henderson County was one of two mentioned in "Better Homes and Gardens" September subscription issue as a great fall place to visit, a great article in the October issue of "Our State," and coming in the December/January issue of "'Farm and Ranch Living" Rita’s diary entries for Sept.10-Oct.10 will be included along with some great pictures of the farm ***Fine Swine Wine, made especially by Childress Vineyards in Lexington, is back by popular demand and made its debut at The Barbecue Festival in October featuring a second special new label designed by world-renowned artist Bob Timberlake.