A program that promotes primary-resource products at Island exhibitions and fairs is packing great promise as it heads into its second year.
Linking the Land and Sea to You and Me helps raise the market profiles of value-added Island products ranging from yogurt and wooden toys to turkey stuffing. The program is a joint venture between the Association of Provincial Exhibitions and the Prince Edward Island Department of Agriculture and Forestry and Department of Environment and Fisheries.
The program features a 30-foot travelling display booth which is used to present packaging of various Island products. The exhibit also includes an area set aside for product-sampling demonstrations -- allowing people opportunities to taste or to inspect the displayed products.
Exhibition Programs Co-ordinator Adele Moore says the public responded well to last year's product displays and food-sampling demonstrations. "And we expect that our second year will go well too," she adds. "Many times, Islanders are surprised that there are so many products produced on PEI ... The tourists really like it too. This is one way for them to see and experience a little bit of PEI."
New program additions this year include a series of food recipes available to those who visit the display booth during exhibition season. Also new this summer is a food-model competition which entertains and enlightens children about various food products. Comments can be recorded on ballots provided at the program's display booth.
"If you are a business and you want to test-market your new product, Linking the Land and Sea to You and Me can do it for you for an affordable price," says Moore. One of the many Island companies that have benefitted from the program, she adds, is Eve's Stuffing. The company, located in western Prince Edward Island, makes edible food stuffing.
Many Island businesses participated in last summer's product promotion program with interest continuing to remain strong. About 20 businesses displayed products at July's Crapaud Exhibition and at least 25 companies are expected for this month's Provincial Exhibition and Old Home Week.
Moore says the two-year-old program will expand its promotion effort for the first time this fall. The program's travelling display booth will be set up at the Atlantic Winter Fair in Halifax this October to promote Island products to off-Island audiences. About 88,000 people attend the annual fair -- offering a larger venue for Island-produced products. About 20 Island businesses are expected to participate.
Moore says next year's plans may include taking the travelling exhibit to the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto. Other future plans may include exchanges at the provincial level -- making inter-provincial promotion efforts more inexpensive.