October 17, 2024 from 10:00-11:00 presentation – 12:00-1:00 Tour at Rare Bird Farm

Presented by: Ann Savage, Tourism Extension Associate Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Management

Savage is responsible for creating and supporting resource and program development to grow prosperous, sustainable tourism opportunities in NC communities.

Join NC State Extension as they talk through agritourism on your farm. We’ll kick things off with an introduction of agritourism and assessing if it is right for your farm business. Then we’ll move into more specifics on developing and sustaining a business concept, identifying business resources and understanding how to launch and grow your business through customer experiences and marketing.

We will then take a trip to Rare Bird Farm. A small and growing agritourism destination in Madison County. “Our mission is to preserve the folk arts, traditional culture, and land of South Central Appalachia by fostering an inclusive and collaborative environment. We believe that the search for home, both internally and externally, is a journey woven into our daily lives, and that true belonging is found in the intimacy and care we extend to ourselves, our homes, communities, and the natural world. At Rare Bird, artists and teachers from diverse cultural backgrounds and abilities come together to preserve, document, share, teach, and learn. We honor tradition while embracing the natural evolution that comes from a diverse and inclusive community, allowing creativity and innovation to flourish. Here, the love of nature and the desire to understand are deeply intertwined, guiding us to create, grow, and thrive in harmony with ourselves, the land and each other.”