This website serves Farmers and Ranchers in the Kansas AgriTourism Industry.For family outings, go to http://www.travelks.comWelcome to Kansas AgriTourism!This website has been developed specifically for Kansas farmers and ranchers involved in AgriTourism, rural properties where the traveler has an opportunity to experience farm and country life far from the hustle of the city.The site is a project of the Kansas Agritourism Advisory Council, working in cooperation with:the Kansas Agriculture Marketing Division and the Travel and Tourism Division of the Department of Commerceand with financial assistance from Frontier Farm Credit.We invite you to explore this website to find a variety of articles and resources that will help you succeed in agritourism.If you have any questions, please contact the Department of Commerce, Travel and Tourism Division, and ask for the Agritourism Liaison.
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This Month's Featured Destination:
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Dunn's Landing |
Robin Dunn, Owner and Operator Dunn's Landing |
In 1907, Duanna Dunn, Robin’s great-grandmother, purchased this farm land in Wellsville, Kansas to begin farming. Today, 100 years later, Robin Dunn owns and operates the farm, having purchased the farm from her grandmother, Verna, in 1990, and the operating rights from her father in 1993.
“I left the farm to go to college, and then I left college to go to California,” Robin recalled. “There wasn’t enough income on the farm for my parents and me, so I opened a landscaping business in Southern California. But I knew what I wanted, and eventually, after 15 years, I was able to buy the farm and return home.”
Weddings a Specialty
Dunn’s Landing is probably best known for the large number of weddings held on the farm.
The barn will hold up to 250 people. Robin provides the tables and chairs, linen table cloths, a horse-drawn limousine carriage or stage coach, plus set up and take down. Adjacent to the barn are heated, modern restroom facilities.
A reservation includes 2 hours the night before for a wedding rehearsal, plus 3 hours for setup and 6 hours for the wedding and reception. The entire package is one price, $1,450 for the first 100 guests, and $100 for each addition 50 people.
Robin does not write individual contracts, but does have a “rules and regulations” sheet that all her guests must read and sign. Upon signing, a one-third deposit holds the date. A second third is due 3 months out, and the final payment is due 30 days before the event. Payment for the caterer, if used, is due 14 days before the event.
Guests are free to bring in their own florist, photographer, and baker, but she does require that they use the caterer she designates. Even though Robin does not receive a percentage from the caterer, she just grew tired of the hassle with other caterers not familiar with the farm.
“They would show up and say, ‘where is your refrigeration?’, and I would remind them I 
had told them we didn’t have it,” Robin said. “Now, they use my caterer, or they don’t have food here.”
Robin also provides a lot of company picnics, holiday parties, bonfires, and group hayrides, and has recently built a 3 to 3.5 acre lake complete with an attractive 60 foot bridge out to an island. Using her landscaping skills, and a grant from the Wildlife Habitat Incentive program, Robin is designing the lake and surroundings to expand the plantings, and create a potential additional location for weddings.
Draft Horses, Carriages and Coaches
Among Robin’s other enterprises, and the one she perhaps enjoys even more, is parading or working her three teams of draft horses, Belgian and Perscheron geldings.
In addition to a large variety of horse-drawn farming equipment, Robin owns several hay wagons, the horse-drawn limousine used for weddings, a beautiful high-wheel hitch, and a people mover, with rubber tires. Her newest addition is a fine new bright red authentic stagecoach.
“I built a semi-trailer that I can use, and after several modifications, I can now haul the horses and the carriage or coach with one truck—all except my new stage coach, which is too tall,” she said. “I can use the same tractor that I use for hauling grain. The only difference is that because I take the teams around, I do have a cab with a sleeper, which gives us a place to dress so we can get ready for the parade or wedding.”
Pricing for events and parades is based on how far it is from the farm to the site, and how far the animals will be walking. For local parades, Robin usually charges about $250. She also takes the teams to pumpkin farms, holiday night-light festivals, and other special events where the public would welcome a unique, horse-drawn ride.
Robin relies on a few friends and family when she needs additional staff, and depends primarily on word-of-mouth to do her marketing. She said she has attended a couple of Bridal Fairs in Lawrence and Ottawa, but has not needed to venture into the Greater Kansas City area for business, even though it is only about 37 miles up Interstate 35.
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| Robin and friend Kirsten Henzlik deliver the Governor's Christmas Tree to home of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. |
On top of all her other activities, Robin farms the 1,000-acre homestead, growing row crops with the usual tractor and machinery. Still, she says, she always sets aside some fields for plowing and planting by draft team.
“I just enjoy it,” she said. “I like watching the wildlife, playing with the animals, and playing in the dirt.”
School Tours
She obviously enjoys it a great deal when school kids, or adults, come out to see the farm.
“We’ve got a lot of the horse-drawn machinery on the farm. It makes quite an impact when we put the 8 foot, horse-drawn drill right beside the tractor-drawn, 36 foot machine.”
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58 Legislators toured Dunn's Landing on Legislators Day 2006 |
With the school groups, Robin, a Farm Bureau board member, will often have other FB members come out to help her educate the children. The children hear how farming life has changed, but they also learn that it still isn’t an easy way to make a living.
“We do discuss the machinery versus the horse-powered equipment, but we also will talk about the commodity market, and that often leads to a discussion about why I host weddings and events here on the farm,” she said.
Robin said she does not have any set packages for group events or school tours coming to the farm.
“They call, and we talk about what they want to do and see. They might want to bring their own lawn chairs, and just sit around a bonfire,” she said. “I’m okay with that. Or maybe they want hayrides, or maybe they want to use the barn. We work it out.”
“It is just kind of evolving,” she explained. “I used to have a price for this and a price for that, but I’ve really gotten away from all that. You tell me what you want to do, and I’ll tell you what it costs. This isn’t Southern California, and that’s why I’m here.”
To learning more about Dunn’s Landing, visit http://www.dunnslanding.comProvided by the Kansas Agritourism Advisory Council.
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