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Editor's corner

Here we are, already into autumn. Past the September back-to-school doldrums for most location-based entertainment facilities, we're now in the time reigned in America by the The Great Pumpkin of Halloween. Most agritainment facilities are cranking tons of business with pumpkin patches, hay rides, apple picking and corn mazes (some are actually made with maize). For Muslims and most of the Middle East, this is the holy month of Ramada to be followed by Eid, when the nighttime becomes a busy time for many family entertainment centers throughout the Muslim world.

Speaking of agritainment (also known as agri-tourism), don't miss our article on agri-motor sports. And if you are interested in agritainment, you might want to sign up for our almost quarterly Agritainment Today ezine. To do so, go to:

www.whitehutchinson.com/subscribe/

Then, if you are signed up for any of our enewsletters, you will get a screen that says, "Your email address is already signed up for this list. If you want to change your subscription settings (the enewsletters you are signed up for - we publish three different ones), please click here." Click it. Then you'll get another page that explains how to change your subscription choices.

It's also the time of fall conventions, with FunExpo and World Water Park behind us and IAAPA coming up in November. I will be giving a first-time seminar at IAAPA entitled Adults are from the earth, children are from the moon: Designing for success with children at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 15. Don't miss it if your facility depends in any way on pleasing children and their parents. See article below for additional information.

We won't have a booth at IAAPA. In fact, we neither advertise nor have booths at any conventions, as we get all our clients through referrals and our website. If you would like to meet me at IAAPA, give me a call or drop me an e-mail, so we can set up a time and place to meet.

The North American Farmers' Direct Marketing Association holds an annual convention that covers agritainment and other forms of direct farm marketing such as farm markets and pick-your-own. At their 2006 trade show and convention in Austin, Texas, Jan. 12-14, I will present an all-day workshop on Growing your agritourism/agritainment attraction for success on Thursday, Jan. 12. For more information about the NAFDMA convention, go to www.nafdma.com/Texas.

We are extremely busy with projects. The StoneFire Pizza Company, a 37,000-square-foot family pizza buffet/entertainment center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is currently under construction. We are currently completing feasibility for another family pizza buffet/entertainment center in Indiana.

Preliminary exterior for a 36,000-square-foot family pizza buffet/entertainment center in Indiana.

And we are deep into development of an entirely new leisure project type that will cover 1.1 million square feet of enclosed space. We have about a dozen other projects in various states of feasibility or design, including the design of a project that will have a rooftop play garden.

We hope you find this issue informative. As always, we have a wide diversity of article topics, including the first look at a definitive survey on how much time Americans spend eating and drinking, at leisure and in sports.

If you have any comments about our eNewsletter, don't hesitate to contact me.

Randy White
Editor

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