The Rural Voice, 1993-12, Page 34Getting it
together
Small food
producers,
clothing
manufacturers
and crafts people
join together in
catalogue
marketing venture
in Huron County
By Keith Roulston
30 THE RURAL VOICE
you've checked off your
Christmas shopping list until
you've come down to that
person you leave to the last
every year, desperately waiting for
inspiration. You want something
special, not something this person is
likely to ever have seen in a store
somewhere, but something of quality.
You pull your hair out — where do
you look for a unique gift.
Well, a group of small specialty
food makers and crafts people in
Huron County are hoping to provide
the answer with a new catalogue
featuring locally made products. The
catalogue was mailed to more than
20,000 homes across Ontario and
into the United States in November
as part of a unique example of co-
operation between the arts and the
rural community.
Christmas From the Country is a
24 -page catalogue that includes
everything from apple butter to
garden furniture and screen doors, all
of it made locally. Participants in the
catalogue, operating as a co-operative
venture, range from local weavers to
such commercial heavyweights as
The Old Mill and Benmiller Inn.
The idea for the catalogue sprang
from the minds of David Peacock,
marketing director of the Blyth
Festival, and Rhea Hamilton -Seeger,
book publisher and columnist for The
Rural Voice, who is active in
community development in Huron.
The two were taking part in a think
tank on community development in
Blyth last spring when the idea arose.
Someone noted that one of the trends
of the future seemed to be mail order
sales. Someone else mentioned the
possibility of this helping build a new
cottage industry in the county and the
need for co-operation between the
various people seeking to build the
rural economy. Peacock then realized
that the Festival's 20,000 -name
mailing list provided the perfect
opportunity to put the whole thing
together.
A small group of cottage industry
proprietors began meeting weekly for
lunch at the Blyth Inn in the spring,
building toward the publication of
their first catalogue this spring. For
some people, the catalogue idea
struck an immediate note of
excitement. The Festival's mailing
list has been carefully guarded to
protect the privacy of the Festival
patrons and this was an opportunity
to speak to a potentially huge market.
"I got involved because it looked
like a very good way to reach a wide
audience with information about our
farm and our product," says Tony
McQuail, whose Meeting Place Farm
advertises its apple butter and freezer
lamb through the catalogue. "I also
like the idea of a group of people
getting together to show people what
they have to offer."
In return, the Festival helps stretch
its promotion budget in these
difficult times for arts groups. The
cost of mailing a brochure to the full
list of 20,000 people is nearly
$6,000. Ordinarily, the Festival's
Christmas mailing to sell vouchers as
Christmas presents would have had
to have been restricted to a small
portion of the list. As a member of
the co-operative effort, the Festival
was able to buy four pages in the
catalogue for a fraction of its full
mailing costs.
Meanwhile, small cottage industry
operators can have a chance to speak
to a wide audience at costs they can
afford. "Ordinarily, small operators
couldn't even think of a mailing to a
huge mailing list like this," says
Peacock, who serves as the interim
president of the group that organized
the first catalogue. As it is, members
could advertise their products for as
little as $150 for a quarter page, plus
a $25 membership fee.
As well as having their
products advertised, the
catalogue looks after all the
problems of shipping and
delivery. Catalogue customers can
send their order by mail or can dial a
toll-free number and the products
will be shipped to them by courier.
Customers have the advantage of
being able to order products from
several different small businesses
with one phone call and having it all
charged to a credit card.
Orders are being filled by Dave
and Judie Glen of Glen Farms, a
small specialty food manufacturer at
Ethel (see page 26 for story). The
couple have been involved in the
project since the first meeting. "Dave
and I have felt there's a lot of talent
in the area and felt there should be a
vehicle to market their products,"
Judie says.