Eight counties | 36 cities | one region

ST. JAMES—The Naturally Meramec Consortium, a group of businesses and individuals interested in promoting tourism and small agriculture-based businesses in the Meramec Region, will meet for the first time Feb. 23 at 11 a.m. at White Mule Winery near Owensville.

“The Naturally Meramec Consortium, in its early stages of organization, is a collection of agriculture and tourism business owners who work together to find ways to market and use each other’s products and services,” Meramec Regional Planning Commission (MRPC) Planning Manager Connie Willman said. “The goal of the consortium is to increase agriculture and tourism jobs as well as sales for these businesses through the creation of a regional culture of local businesses that benefit from symbiotic relationships.”

MRPC is managing the consortium project, which was funded through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farmers’ Market Promotion Program and the Delta Regional Authority (DRA).

Approximately 450 agriculture or tourism businesses throughout the eight-county Meramec Region were identified as potential consortium members during previous stages of the project.

The Meramec Region consists of Crawford, Dent, Gasconade, Maries, Osage, Phelps, Pulaski and Washington Counties. The businesses identified range from wineries and breweries to pork producers to cheese makers to beekeepers and many in between.

Initial meetings will take place in each of the eight counties, and the Gasconade County meeting at White Mule Winery is the first of these meetings.

In addition to working together to use, sell or highlight each other’s products, the consortium will also develop additional marketing tools for its members including a brochure and an interactive website. The website will allow travelers to plot a route and will highlight member businesses along the route where they may wish to stop.

Business owners who did not receive an invitation but would like to participate may contact Willman at 573-265-2993 orcwillman@meramecregion.org.

Formed in 1969, MRPC is a voluntary council of governments serving Crawford, Dent, Gasconade, Maries, Osage, Phelps, Pulaski and Washington counties and their respective cities. A professional staff of 21, directed by the MRPC board, offers technical assistance and services, such as grant preparation and administration, housing assistance, transportation planning, environmental planning, ordinance codification, business loans and other services to member communities.

To keep up with the latest MRPC news and events, visit the MRPC website at www.meramecregion.org or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/meramecregion.