Ropes Course for Agritourism Businesses

If you travel in any direction away from the RCI Adventure Products headquarters in Allegan, MI, you’ll quickly find yourself in farm country. Acres and acres of dairy farms, cornfields, wheatfields, fruit trees and other agricultural crops will fill the landscape.

Every few miles along the way a sign will appear for a fruit stand, u-pick orchard, a petting zoo, farmers market, cider mill or a number of other agricultural-based businesses. These businesses fall under the Agritourism segment and have presented a unique and fun opportunity in recent years for RCI’s family of adventure products.

Growing Opportunities in Agritourism

Agritourism is simply the combination of an agricultural business that caters to tourism, such as apple orchards, pumpkin patches, corn mazes, wineries, cidar mills, farmers markets, u-pick farms and even petting zoos.

Agritourism continues to be a growing market not only in Michigan, but around the country. Here in Michigan we’re firmly entrenched in the u-pick season with strawberries, cherries and blueberries being some of the most popular crops. These spring and summer crops will soon give way to the ever-popular apple picking and pumpkin patches.

Farm-based businesses continue to find ways to take full advantage of the influx of visitors in summer and fall and have developed a variety of attractions to enhance the family-fun experience. Corn mazes, petting zoos and hayrides are a few of the most-commonly offered experiences. However, many agritourism businesses are taking attractions to the next level and looking to the RCI family of products for solutions. Our Sky Trail®, Sky Tykes® (designed for children 48-inches and shorter), Amazen Mazes, Adventure Tykes and Adventure Trail®, are ideally suited for this sort of business model.

“When you think about the peaks and valleys of an agritourism business, one of the benefits of adding a Sky Trail® ropes course is that it helps maximize revenue in the peak part of the season,” said Zack Loeprich, marketing manager for RCI Adventure Products. “On the reverse side, it’ll lessen the ‘valley’ portion of the season, helping bring in consistent visitor traffic during traditionally slower times.”

Unharnessed Net-Play Attractions

RCI Adventure Products offers Adventure Trail and Adventure Tykes, two net-play adventure courses that do not require a harness. Guests are free to move on and off these courses, and can move freely throughout them without a teether. The semi-rigid surrounding net provides a safe barrier, protecting guests from falling and supporting them should they lose balance.

Adventure Trail® is not unlike our Sky Trail® course, as it’s an aerial course with bridge, beam and rope elements. Because Adventure Trail® is unharnessed we also offer a variety of entrance and exit options including a net elevator and spiral slides.

Adventure Tykes is our newest product and a pint-sized version of the Adventure Trail®. This unharnessed course caters to kids 48-inches and shorter and includes a variety of bridge elements that’ll challenge guests. Like Adventure Trail®, Adventure Tykes includes fun and challenging entrance towers and spiral slides to exit the course.

Businesses in the agritourism market love our net-play courses because they’re not only high capacity, but always require minimal staffing to manage the course.

Sky Trail® Ropes Course of Agritourism

Our fully-customizable Sky Trail® ropes courses cater to a wide age range and skill level. We design these courses to be enjoyed by the whole family. Theses courses provide an unforgettable aerial experience for your guests. Better yet, at 1, 2, 3 or more levels, Sky Trail® courses make an impactful visual statement as they can be easily seen from the road and help draw in crowds that may normally just pass by.

We always recommend pairing our Sky Trail® with a Sky Rail®, a zipline experience that’ll keep guests on course for longer and make the ropes course an even more unforgettable experience. RCI is able to configure its Sky Rails® to include multiple curves or even a full 180-degree bend. These curves not only increase ride length but add to the thrill.

Welcome to the RCI Family!

One of the year’s first projects for RCI was for Hall Family Farm in Lancaster, SC, a large family farm that offers u-pick berries, multi-acre corn maze, pumpkin patch, a large play area, restaurant, bakery, hay rides and more.

This past winter the Hall Family installed a custom 2-level  Sky Trail® course, completed with a 180-degree Sky Rail® zip line, and a Sky Tykes course, which caters to kids 48-inches and shorter. The course includes over 20 challenging elements and can provide a scenic overlook opportunity of this amazing family farm.

RCI is excited to partner with the Hall Family Farm and looking forward to continued support of all our customers in the Agritourism market.