Rural Development Is Elusive in Minnesota

03/06/2008

Paul Munnis


I think that we have the notion of a Farmers Market far too narrow.

Let me give you an example:

Presently, every Saturday in Rochester, MN, the local Farmers Market is open. People bring their produce in from their rural farms and they concentrate sales in a city space that lacks sufficient parking. They set up their stalls. The local residents then come along and they buy their produce or cakes or pies or whatever and they take them home and enjoy it. The sellers are happy the buyers are happy.

Good enough.

This happens each Saturday during the growing season – about 15 weeks in all. Then the Farmers Market is often closed for winter except that an experiment is now being run in Rochester to run it each weekend at the fairgrounds during the winter months.

The problem that we have in rural Minnesota is that the towns are drying up for a lack of outside income. The question is how to get people out to the rural communities. Except for the local ‘corn dog days,’ or whatever, it’s pretty hard to get people from outside the community to come into rural towns.

We know that if you can get them there they will buy gas, they will use the convenience store, they will accomplish the purpose of their trip, they will sample the local restaurants, and they will leave money in town that will touch other hands before leaving. So the question is how to get them there in the first place.

When I lived in Germany they took a very methodical approach to this matter. Each rural town worked to establish itself as a destination community. Each developed something that drew people in from elsewhere. Each had a marketing plan for their town. The Marketing Plan featured weekend events every weekend and built around a central theme for that town.

Each village reached back in their history for something special and they built around that. If they lacked anything of merit then they invented something.

We do that to a limited degree in Minnesota, ‘Corn Dog Days’ for example, but its only one day a year. The people of Germany seek to make it a weekly event. They do this by investing in a community space where events can be held and they put people in government in charge of making sure these events happen.

For example, one town might establish itself as a Bavarian Polka Town. Each Saturday there are polka dances organized and there are various groups who come and dance all day and half of the night too. Polka dance teams are organized and challenges are given. The newspapers carry stories about the coming weekend polka activities and many people from around the region who love to polka show up. Free polka lessons are given and children all learn to polka. The goal is to assure that anyone that comes for the polka activities leaves having had a good time and they can’t wait to come back the next weekend. Large crowds attract vendors and the vendors provide food and mementos. You can see what it does for the local economy if you get 5,000 to turn out for a polka weekend and every weekend.

Here is a village that specializes in craft items. They hold a weekly craft far. There is a town that specializes in model railroad displays with everything hand-crafted. Here is another town that specializes in amateur music competition offering a prize to the competition winner. And so it goes.

The result is that when the weekend rolls around the people in the city say: “What will we do for fun this weekend? Where will we go?” They do not lack opportunity. They seek a destination.

Yes, a Farmers Market could be held each weekend in Mantorville and it should compete with the one in Rochester and make it a more attractive one than people have in the city. On the way to it, going through Byron, there ought to be a weekly craft hall that is open. When one hits Kasson then an opportunity to use the fairground race track should be there with Go-Karts in the summer and snowmobiles in the winter. You get the idea.

Instead of making it so restrictive and controlled for people to come and sell cider, soda, and hot dogs, the town should embrace them and not try to gouge them for food fees. This kills off the event. It is this very thing that brings people out to mix. Let them compete with quality food and beer too and at affordable prices. Many of those in need of extra income in the town will work to fill the needs of the crowd and gain a few dollars to help their families to make it. In so doing the townspeople will not sell off and move to the city for a job and to seek better income opportunity.

Many Minnesotans are descended from European stock and they need to ask Grandma and Grandpa how it’s done in Europe. They might like the answers.

Even better – ask Asians how its done in their homeland. If you dare then ask the people of Africa too and even dare to wonder what would happen if we had an Indian Reservation that ran frequent pow-wow’s. The elders might see that as opportunity to share tribal culture with others. America is a very diversified nation where many cultures come together. It is time to celebrate our differences and embrace them while developing our rural economy.

Forget JOBZ that misses the point of regional economic growth by a country mile. I would rather see teams of U of M Business Students challenged to create community plans and these teams themselves put into competition. I'd like to see the plans then augmented with seed funding from our State. I think we have the resources just not the needed leadership.