Laserfiche WebLink
Response 2.1 * <br />Response 2.2 * <br />Application Questions'. Part. 2 <br />3l lmpact <br />!,\"&y raould lc.rsts tra'/el lo Kittrlas Cotinty to attend your evertyactivity,.facilityt <br />Why wouldn't they?! The feedback we've gotten from guests over the past several <br />years gives us a three part answer to this question. <br />One, they like the working farm. non-commercial feel of our patch. We offer an <br />authentic, wholesome. fall farm experience - and that's something lhat those caught <br />up in the rat race are craving. <br />Two. we have the best weatherl Our westside pumpkin counterparts are constallily <br />battling fall weather. Parking lots flood, corn mazes tuin to mud and guest numbers <br />drop. While we run into the occasional ran each year. it's nothing in comparison to <br />what the westside patches see - and it certainly doesn't affect our operations the <br />way it does there. <br />Three, a visit to the punrpkin patch is a deeply rooted annual tradition for a lot of <br />people - and they are looking to make the most of it. This includes making a <br />weekend adventure or day trip out of the experience. Another component that we're <br />seeing as a result of Covid is that other paiches are permanently altering their <br />operations. With Covid as tlre catalyst, many patches turned to timed ticketing to <br />control guest numbers (i.e. guests musi buy their ticket in advance, for a specific day <br />and time). And. the agritourism operators loved it, but guests did not. We are not a <br />timed tickei event. nor do we see the need to go this direction anytinre in the near <br />future. <br />2500 characiei llmii <br />Desr:rbe the Frior success of vailt ev--nlracitvily:facility in atlraciion iL]uflsis. <br />We have always worked hard to attract folks from the westside, Yakima and <br />Wenatchee areas. And, we have done so with a lot of success. We employ an on- <br />site raffle. which requires pertinent information in orderto enter 1i.e. nanre. email, zip <br />code, are you staying overnight and how many night). We also use on-site in-person <br />surveys. Based on the information we've captured through these methods. we know <br />that typically about 40% of our guests are from outside the couniy. Howevel that <br />number jumped exponentially in 202A b 52%, given that sr'rrrounding counties had <br />tighter Covid/agritourism restrictions. While we expect many "Covid guests" to go <br />back to their'"usual" pumpkin patch this year, we expect that many will also be back. <br />Given that this application is being submitted afier our 2021 evenl has kicked off, we <br />can report that our non-county guest numbers are in fact up from 2019 - leading us <br />to believe that we will we retain a percentage of our new 2020 guests ultimately fall <br />somewhere between 2019 and 2020 tn overall attendance. <br />2500 chatacler limJi <br />'':.',.