Agritourism not for the feint of heart

When she first opened her flower farm to the public, Alexis Szarek feared she made a massive mistake as significant issues arose. But with planning and hard work she’s turned Bloom Flowers Festival into a successful business. ~  Facebook photo

By Luke Edwards

She was creating tradition, but at the time, Alexis Szarek felt like all she was doing was creating headaches and a failed business.

Back in spring 2016 Szarek thought she was ready to open her B.C. tulip farm to the public. She had poured her blood, sweat and tears into turning her farm into a stunning oasis of colour. But soon after her festival arrived, Szarek found herself in tears, wondering where it all went wrong.

Szarek is a third-generation flower farmer and the founder of Bloom Flowers Festival, which has become a successful annual agritourism event that now takes place at her farm in the north Okanagan Valley. Visitors can tour the fields of tulips in the spring and walk among sunflowers later in the summer.

But in that first year, she wasn’t prepared. Some of it was timing, an operator of a similar flower festival decided to take the year off. And some of it were things she’d never been told and never thought to consider.

“The moment you let the public on the farm the game changes,” she told attendees at last month’s Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Convention.

Fortunately, despite the early struggles - which included a portion of the Trans Canada Highway near her farm that was backed up three hours because she and her municipality hadn’t fully prepared for the traffic and parking that would be required - Szarek quickly learned and adapted. In time she’d put a system in place that reduced the issues to a number far more manageable. Nothing’s perfect, but with a good system in place, she said agritourism operators can cut off problems before they occur.

It starts with a fairly simple lesson.

“Assume zero farm literacy,” she said.

That may sound a little mean, but in Szarek’s experience, it’s the approach needed. With more of the public being further and further removed from agricultural life it’s natural they’d have less understanding of how a farm works.

Despite assuming zero farm literacy, Szarek said the people coming to a farm do bring a genuine interest and curiosity.

“People are hungry for an experience that they feel is real,” she said.

Szarek learned people tend not to read signs, but instead follow behaviour. So she began designing her layout very intentionally, guiding people to the places they should go, and away from the places that were off limits.

And while they may not read signs, they are hungry from information. So Szarek developed a communication system, fine tuning it so people who bought tickets were given the appropriate information at the appropriate time through emails.

Szarek didn’t realize it at the time, but the work to build relationships with city hall officials in the months leading up to her debut event acted as an insurance policy when things did go wrong. Because municipal staff knew her, and knew she was genuine in her goal to create a good event, they used the first year as a learning experience instead of as an excuse to shut her down, she said.

Since that time, Szarek has continued to evolve her agritourism operation, moving from Abbotsford to the north Okanagan four years ago.

Looking back on her own experience helps provide a blueprint for others. It starts with a strong foundation.

“The first year isn’t about being impressive. It’s about being functional,” she said.

With that one core service perfected, Szarek encourages operators to try one or two new things each year. Enough to keep people coming back, but not so much to be overwhelming.

“Expand when it’s calm enough to grow,” she said.

Pricing can do a lot to direct customers, too. She uses dynamic pricing to encourage visits when it’s less busy to keep the overall flow manageable. She also offers special pricing for locals on certain nights. It’s part of building excitement and trust with the local community, which she said is also vital.

With all that in place, Szarek said fun events can turn into traditions. She has customers who come back faithfully each year, often bringing a friend or relative who had never visited before, and turning what initially looked like a failure into a popular annual event.