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or, for sun or wind protection, seating in a barn, tent or temporary gazebo.

Selling food offers an additional income stream:

• with pre-packaged foods (option A), budget an increase in gross sales of about 10 per cent

• with lower-risk items (option B), expect gross sales to increase up to 20 per cent

• with the full fedged kitchen (option C), expect to increase gross sales by 30 per cent

This maze calculator only budgets for low risk pre-packaged food products.

Attractions

Maze operators often add attractions to make their farm appeal to more age levels within a family and to give the family more reasons to stay at the farm. The longer customers stay the more likely they are to spend money on other attractions or food.

liability because horses have been known to bolt and personal injuries can result. Wagon design must reduce the chance of someone getting injured.

The safest design is to have railings all around the perimeter of the wagon with seats facing inward so no one can sit on the edge of the wagon with their feet hanging over the side. With out-facing seats:

• children can bounce off if the tractor hits a bump

• peoples’ legs can be injured passing too close to an object like a tree or fence post

• someone may jump off prematurely and fall under the wheel of the wagon

A set of stairs at the back that is hinged so they fold up after everyone is on the wagon allows easy access to the wagon. At the end of the ride no

one can exit until the stairs are swung down.

Feature an enchanted barn or forest that depicts scenes from popular children’s stories, or label trees, plants, farm equipment, or antiques from rural life and tell what they are used for. When well done this attraction can justify an admission fee of $2/person.

A rule of thumb used in the Alberta tourism industry is for every hour a person travels to your farm they want four hours of activities to feel they are getting value for their trip. Use this rule of thumb to decide how far from the farm it is realistic to spend your advertising budget.

The following are some ways to increase the “average sale per customer.”

Have wagon rides around the farm. Charge an additional fee, perhaps $2/person for a ride. You can charge more for horse drawn wagon rides (e.g. $3), but there is also increased