I, Bruce Talis, have always had a fondness of farming communities. So, I decided to hold a Football & Farming Tour where I encouraged local farmers to hold a special farmer’s market to show off their goods, and showcased farming activities that could be translated to football elements. I started small and visited Midwest rural towns starting in Missouri, and moved through Kansas, Nebraska, and finished in Iowa.
Some of these farming activities included catching the greased pig (to replicate defenses catching the ball carrier), the human plow push/pull (garnering strength the O- and D-line face on the field), herding “runaway” livestock (in an enclosed area, using appropriately sized livestock depending on the size of the person (chicken/goats for kids) replicating DBs containing the offense players), and some stalls have educational showcases displaying how agriculture is ingrained in football from how the football got its nickname “pigskin” and how leather is now used for modern balls, the importance of growing the turf for the field, and most importantly, how the food and drink gets from the farm to the tailgate feasts and concession stands.
It may seem like pandering to the rural communities, but the goal is to get the urban folk and suburbanites outside their comfort zones and experience the farm life. With this only allotted as a two-month long tour and being the first instance of this kind of community outreach for me (also being only a lowly OL rookie), the turnout was not quite as expected; only reaching 80% of our projected attendance numbers with an overwhelming majority being from rural areas. However, the farmers with stalls selling their goods reported much gratitude in setting up an opportunity to sell more goods as certain times of years, they have a surplus, and they are forced to throw out what could not get sold. In the future, I’ll try to line up my tour with times when these farmers are at peak harvest times and advertise this side more of the farmer’s market more. Hopefully with this different approach to advertising, this would encourage the urban and suburban folk to come out to these events.
Some of these farming activities included catching the greased pig (to replicate defenses catching the ball carrier), the human plow push/pull (garnering strength the O- and D-line face on the field), herding “runaway” livestock (in an enclosed area, using appropriately sized livestock depending on the size of the person (chicken/goats for kids) replicating DBs containing the offense players), and some stalls have educational showcases displaying how agriculture is ingrained in football from how the football got its nickname “pigskin” and how leather is now used for modern balls, the importance of growing the turf for the field, and most importantly, how the food and drink gets from the farm to the tailgate feasts and concession stands.
It may seem like pandering to the rural communities, but the goal is to get the urban folk and suburbanites outside their comfort zones and experience the farm life. With this only allotted as a two-month long tour and being the first instance of this kind of community outreach for me (also being only a lowly OL rookie), the turnout was not quite as expected; only reaching 80% of our projected attendance numbers with an overwhelming majority being from rural areas. However, the farmers with stalls selling their goods reported much gratitude in setting up an opportunity to sell more goods as certain times of years, they have a surplus, and they are forced to throw out what could not get sold. In the future, I’ll try to line up my tour with times when these farmers are at peak harvest times and advertise this side more of the farmer’s market more. Hopefully with this different approach to advertising, this would encourage the urban and suburban folk to come out to these events.