For Gervais farm, "agritourism" means money come fall

A Gervais farm is trying a novel trick to get patron dollars this fall: mixing pumpkins and lasers.

For this year’s annual Harvest Festival, Bauman's Farm is introducing an interactive Sleepy Hollow-themed laser arena game. It's a revamp on an attraction from last year that adds to about 26 other “agritourism” thrills the farm offers.

Agricultural tourism efforts have for years been part of farms such as Bauman's during the jack-o'-lantern season. Offerings range from farm-themed attractions such as corn mazes, petting zoos and hay-bale rides to more extravagant enterprises such as Bauman's laser game to draw visitors.

In Oregon, only a small number of farms want to engage with agritourism during the year, says Melissa Fery, an associate professor with Oregon State University’s small farms extension service. “Very few farms… are diving into agritourism,” she said in a phone interview, later adding, “It’s not for everyone.”

But it can be a boon for the company’s bottom line, she said.

Harvest festivals bring mazes, odd events to valley

Agritourism isn't all hay-bale rides and games. It includes other efforts to draw attention to agriculture around the state. Think wine tours and farm stands.

As Oregonians show an uptick in interest in local agriculture, there are more pockets of agritourism, said Bruce Pokarney, a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Agriculture, in an email. “It’s still a small minority of Oregon producers that offer these types of activities, and even a smaller percentage that depend on these activities for their annual income,” he said.

Farms seem to add or subtract these attractions at their own pace. Lone Pine Farms in Junction City decided against having its famous haunted corn maze this year. Instead, they’ll have a daytime maze sans the scares. A number of factors led to the decision, from a lack of volunteers to a shuffling of management, said Lone Pine manager Stephanie Jensen.

The farm has what could be considered agritourism parts of its operation. Take, for example, a popular animal-feeding system that allows people to feed a goat for the price of a gumball, with pulleys and separate pens housing the livestock.

But Jensen said the first priority of Lone Pine is its farming.

Farm owner Brian Bauman said that for his family business to stay competitive, it has to find alternative ways to earn money.

“You’re seeing small businesses diversifying,” he said. Being able to grow new interests for patrons is why Bauman’s Farm has been in business since 1895, he said.

The decision to add the new laser game comes as Bauman looks to capitalize on a part of his family business that accounts for 20 percent to 25 percent of its yearly profits. That’s up from 10 percent to 15 percent a decade ago, he reckons.

But he doesn’t want to lean too much on revenue from the rides, because if it rains all October and turnout is low, “I don’t want to tell my kids there’s no Christmas,” he said.

At times activities can stray from a focus on educating people about farm life into just fun. It's “like agritainment almost,” said Fery.

There won't be any laser pumpkin shenanigans this October in Salem at E.Z. Orchards, though, which tries to keep its monthlong event an educational and traditional festival.

“We’re not doing zip-lines and jumping pillows,” said co-owner John Zielinski outside the orchard’s storefront on a recent afternoon.

Instead, patrons can go through a corn maze in the shape of the state of Oregon, with signs posted inside to mark where cities like Salem and Pendleton would be. There’s information on the signs to give explorers a lesson about the areas.

Among other customers, about 7,000 school children come through the harvest festival each year. Zielinski said on a sunny weekend day in October, around 2,000 people could attend the events; on a rainy day, that might drop to 350. He declined to talk about how much share of the overall business the festival season accounts for.

But increased foot traffic from the harvest event usually means bolstered sales at E.Z. Orchards’ retail front for donuts and other products.

“We can’t even keep up in October,” he said.

Inside the shop, people can also buy hard cider that Zielinski said has made its way around the nation, from Oregon to Washington, D.C. It’s first vintage was 2009, and it went up for sale in 2010.

A cousin of Bauman’s started a hard cider product for their farm recently, another example of their diversification. Now there's a hard cider tasting room at the Gervais location.

Separately, Bauman is staring at a wage increase on the horizon that will raise his labor costs over time when he employs a lot of high school students for the harvest festival.

Legislation has passed in Oregon to raise its minimum wage in increments in coming years.

He’s willing to take a chance on the teenagers because he needs the help, but he worries about the higher costs to give them work and a resume line.

“It’s not like it’s money that’s going back into working families,” he said.

But labor has already been an issue for Bauman, who said he’s had fruit fall on the ground because there’s no one there to pick it.

Send questions, comments or news tips to jbach@statesmanjournal.com or 503-399-6714. Follow him on Twitter @JonathanMBach.

Some area harvest festivals

Bauman’s Farm & Garden: 12989 Howell Prairie Road NE, Gervais. $3 weekday admission and $5 weekends and Oct. 14 and 21. 503-792-3524, Baumanfarms.com.

French Prairie Gardens: 17673 French Prairie Road NE, Saint Paul. $5 weekends and Oct. 14; $7 Tuesdays-Fridays; $10 unlimited farm fun wristband; free ages 1 and younger. 503-633-8445, Fpgardens.com.

Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm: 33814 S Meridian Road, Woodburn. $8, $6 ages 60 and older and free ages 2 and younger. 503-634-2243,Woodenshoe.com.

Airlie Hills Farm: 10775 Airlie Road, Monmouth. $7 wristband for unlimited activities Monday-Friday; $9 unlimited activities on Saturday and Sunday; free ages 2 and younger. 503-932-8083, Airliehills.com.

Bose Family Farm:  35765 Cyrus Road NE, Albany. $7 corn maze; $3 dark hay maze; $1 hay ride; $2 mini-disc golf; $10 wristband; free ages 5 and younger. 541-971-0458, Bosefamilyfarm.com.

E.Z. Orchards: 5504 Hazel Green Road NE. $8 weekends and free ages 2 and younger or for everyone on weekdays; $3 corn maze weekdays. 503-393-1506, Ezorchards.com.

Fir Point Farms: 14601 NE Arndt Road, Aurora. Free admission; activities are $12 per person or $3 per activity; $5 Charlotte’s Web corn maze. 503-678-2455, Firpointfarms.com.

Fordyce Farm: 7023 Sunnyview Road NE. Free admission; cost for corn maze. 503-362-5105, Fordycefarm.com.

Greens Bridge Gardens: 3730 Jefferson Scio Drive SE, Jefferson. Free admission. 541-327-2995, Greensbridgegardens.com.

Heiser Farms: 21425 Grand Island Loop, Dayton. Free admission. 503-868-7512, Heiserfarms.com.

Vince Woods Farm: 6435 62nd Ave. NE. Free admission; $1 pumpkin forest and caboose; 25 cents for corn maze. 503-393-0120, Vincewoodsfarm.com.

Wavra Farms and Nursery: 7882 Jordan St. SE. $5; free ages 2 and younger. 503-364-9879, Wavrafarms.com.