Meet in the Valley: Expanding Markets in 2012 VCTGA Annual Meeting & Conference August 23-25 Waynesboro Best Western Inn and Conference Center
Whatever you are planning for the summer make sure you include reserving August 23-25 for our Annual VCTGA Membership Meeting in Waynesboro. We are going back to the Best Western, which worked very well for us in 2010. Don’t miss this Meeting! As you read this issue of Virginia Evergreen, plans are being finalized for our 2012 Annual meeting in Waynesboro. I encourage you to plan now to attend, if you haven’t already done so. This meeting’s program will offer everything from “Brags and Blunders” to Agritourism, Blogs, and Wreaths. We’re extremely pleased to have
Rick Dungey coming as a speaker from our national organization‘s management company. Among other things, Rick mans the NCTGA BLOG. You might Google Rick’s name before the meeting if you’d like to find out in advance some of the ways he’s serving as an activist advocate for our industry. Perhaps we need to consider a Virginia Christmas tree blog. Why not? During the course of the meeting, we’re trying something new with a Marketing Luncheon on Thursday. Commissioner Matt Lohr will be the featured speaker at that Luncheon. We’re continuing to work to better connect with our support team at VDACS and to use the programs already in place, Virginia Grown and Virginia’s Finest, as well as, the 6 6 |
“Buy Fresh- Buy Local” campaign to better promote our products, our farms, and our industry here in Virginia. We, VCTGA, are also working to fully utilize the money available to use through marketing grants. We are grateful to Greg Lemmer and the board for the hard work in furthering these initiatives through these grant opportunities. Thursday evening will be a special night out with a trip to The Frontier Culture Museum and a picnic dinner in their unique octagonal barn. Mrs. Rowe’s will be providing both of our meals for our events on Thursday and it should be quite a treat. One of the true highlights of our meeting is the Annual Fundraising Auction to benefit our Scholarship Fund. Please plan to bring something to donate to the auction and have fun bidding often to benefit a good cause. Friday evening we’ve scheduled the annual Awards Night and Banquet to be held at the Waynesboro Country Club, featuring their famous prime rib dinner, and located close to our meeting site. You won’t want to miss this conclusion of our program. In addition to the meeting program, there will also be field trip opportunities To conclude the meeting on Saturday, we’re scheduled to visit to board member Dave Thomas’ farm for our Saturday Farm Tour. We’re grateful to Dave for hosting the farm tour and for his help in lining up this on site opportunity for our members. We’ll also be visiting the Hess family’s “Back Home on the Farm” agritourism operation and having lunch with them as we learn about their unique farm business. So, in closing, I encourage you to make plans and reservations to join fellow growers at the Best Western in Waynesboro for our annual meeting. Oh, and by the way, don’t forget
to select the tree or trees you’ll be bringing to Waynesboro for the tree contest. And while you’re at it, plan to enter the wreath contest, too. Who knows you might “win” a trip to the Governor’s Mansion. (Last year Governor McDonald graced us with his presence and received the trees, wreaths, and evergreens for the mansion and we were fortunate to receive excellent media coverage!) Have a great “shearing season” and I hope to see you all in Waynesboro in August. Virginia Chisholm Carroll Hope to see you there!!! By John Carroll, Program Chair
Bring Your Brags and Blunders At this year’s convention we will have abt. 45 minutes allotted for a “Brags and Blunders” session on Friday morning. Folks are be invited to tell of something good, something bad or something interesting that has happened related to Christmas Trees. For example it could be a particular tree pest disaster as a blunder but conquering it would be a brag. It could be getting great TV or Newspaper coverage of your farm, a new item you tried in your sales area, a great tool or other equipment you bought or made, etc. This should prove to be fun as well as educational. I invite you to think of something you can share with our group during this session. We hope to even have a prize for the best Brag or Blunder. Dave Thomas, VCTGA Director
VCTGA News journal Summer 2012 2012 VCTGA News– Journal – Summer