Yakima Valley Agriculture Featured in Country Living Magazine

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Scott Steinloski
509-576-6339
scotts@visityakima.com

Terica Taylor
509-576-3384
ttaylor@visityakima.com

YAKIMA, Wash.-An article on Yakima Valley’s fruit and vegetable harvest is featured in the July issue of Country Living Magazine. The 10-page article covers our many fruit stands, the Yakima Valley Farmers Market and ‘U-pick’ opportunities offered to tourists, as well as a section the Yakima Valley Museum Soda Fountain.

The article focuses on the fact that many of our family farms and have been passed down from generation to generation. Many photos of the owners and visitors, enjoying the bounty of the Yakima Valley, adorn the pages of the article.

The Yakima Valley Visitors and Convention Bureau enticed the magazine to look at featuring the Valley’s harvest. Cheryl Slocum, Country Living food editor, visited Yakima for three days last summer with a photographer to begin the story. The Bureau worked with the publication last month to put on the finishing touches.

“Wonderful! This is really going to promote the beauty of the fruits of the Yakima Valley,” said Cheryl Barrett of Washington Fruit Place and Barrett Orchards. “Two visitors have already seen the article and come in as a result. This will affect tourism in the valley a lot. This is a nationwide magazine and other states will learn about our fresh fruit.”

“We are very pleased, but even more pleased for Valley,” said John Baule, Director of the Yakima Valley Museum. “Many people hear about the Pacific Northwest from the west side of the state. It’s nice to see the center of our state in a national publication. We’ve already received two calls from Massachusetts from people interested in visiting soda fountains.”

Kathy Coffey, President and CEO of the Yakima Valley Visitors and Convention Bureau states, “This is the perfect example of what can happen when we come together to show off all that our Valley has to offer. There were so many people that helped make this happen and I want to thank everyone who contributed to its success.”

The Yakima Valley Visitor and Convention Bureau is a non-profit corporation recognized as the Yakima Valley’s official visitor promotion agency. It is headed by an eight person Executive Committee that reports to a thirty-seven member Board of Directors elected from the Bureau’s membership. While the Bureau functions with a professional staff, its marketing effectiveness depends on a close working relationship with the Bureau members and the communities it represents.

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