“A picture is worth a thousand words” is a truism that is actually true. Regardless of whether you get most of your information from a newspaper, a news report, or YouTube, your experience and your understanding is enhanced by a few well-placed pictures.
There is a reason why people hold their cell phones high over the heads of other concert-goers and why every press conference harbors a stable of photographers bulked up and weighed down with cameras, lenses, meters, and other accoutrements of picture taking. The reason is that pictures “sell.”
Open Farm Days promotions are no exception. Whether you look at advertisements in print media, brochures put out by the State, or visit the website (www.getrealmaine.com), the wording is limited, but the pictures are fabulous! There are pictures of livestock placidly going about their business (mostly eating) without any apparent discomfiture from staring eyes. There are pictures of colorful, flavorful vegetables and fruits in various stages of undress, everything from straight, well-weeded rows, through some stage of harvest, to well-prepared and delivered on a plate to a happy and contented recipient. At all stages, there are children … egg-basket laden children following after the chickens … baby-bottle laden children sharing with newfound lamb and calf buddies … grubby, mud-covered children rooting about in a garden or field for bits of a salad before it comes home with them. Apparently, children “sell” as well.
What the marketers who produce these images don’t realize, of course, is that an event like Open Farm Day turns us all into children; in this case, the excitement, the enthusiasm, and the air of discovery is found in children of all ages. It is also infectious, which is why the list of farms participating expands every year and why past-participant farms look forward to the event each summer.
Several members of the Presque Isle Farmers’ Market with whom you visit each Saturday morning while shopping for meat, vegetables, fruit, dairy, and eggs, enjoy the opportunity to open their doors (figuratively or literally) to their customers, neighbors, and new friends as well. Ask a Marketeer about their participation in Open Farm Day (Sunday, July 27) and make a plan to participate as well.
The Presque Isle Farmers’ Market contact person Gail Maynard, who operates Orchard Hill Farm in Woodland with her husband, Stan. Their phone number is 498-8541 and their email is orchhill@gmail.com.
