Starter Kit. Idea 495 of 500. Cluster 27
A fruit festival in each district in its season, the way Spain sells its oranges and Japan its cherries: the mango days in Jaffna, the rambutan month in Malwana, the durian weeks on the Kandy road
The mechanism, from the book
Fruit the world wants, sold in a heap by the road. Grading, a name and a cold box make the heap an export and the season a reason to visit.
The first step
Choose one district and its fruit season, and ask the growers, the temple or church, the school and the local council whether they would hold a fruit day together. Plan stalls, tastings, a grading contest and a walk through the orchards. Tell the hotels and guesthouses in the region the date early. The proof is visitors who came for the festival and stayed the night.
- Who pays first
- Visitors and Colombo families who will travel for a day of the season's fruit, and the growers who sell to them.
- What leaves today
- Each district's fruit leaves in heaps at the lowest price of its season; a festival brings buyers to the farm and fills the rooms.
Ask first
- the local council (Municipal Council, Urban Council or Pradeshiya Sabha). Ask what permission a fruit festival on public ground needs, and which dates are free.
- Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority. Ask whether a district fruit festival can be listed for visitors.
Check before you spend
Confirm permission for the ground and the date, stall rules and food hygiene, first aid, and the growers' agreement to sell at the festival.
Find out these three numbers
- How many visitors could one fruit day draw to the district?
- What will a grower pay for a stall?
- In which weeks does the district's fruit peak?
The test
Does it keep value that now leaves the island, or build the proof that lets somebody else do so?
From the appendix of Why Not Sri Lanka? by Dr Maheshika Halbeisen. The idea and the mechanism are the book's; this kit was written for the site.