Grabbing the coattails of a national trend toward eating locally, the Haywood County-based Buy Haywood Market Development Project has released an online video boosting tomatoes grown close to home.
The animated short follows the stories of several tomatoes as they are carted into our region from far-flung locations such as Mexico, California and even Canada. It can be viewed at YouTube and Buy Haywood’s Web site.
“We wanted to try a more creative approach to promoting our local farm products,” said George Ivey, the project coordinator. “We have always had excellent soils, hard-working farmers, and great-tasting produce, but what we need to make a difference in our sales and marketing efforts might really be cartoon tomatoes and YouTube.”
The 80-second video was produced locally by Stellar Media. Voice-overs were provided by Haywood locals Kristin Yarborough and Mark Terry.
The Buy Haywood Market Development Project is managed by the Haywood County Economic Development Commission and receives support from the Golden LEAF Foundation.
— Kent Priestley, staff writer
