A Hungry Village tour is the perfect way to enhance your Saugatuck/Douglas vacation. We've added a 15 passenger step on air-conditioned bus! Hungry Village Tours offers an exceptional “behind the scenes” glimpse of local culture, food, wine, customs, and FUN! Let us create a special tour for your group, or join us on a scheduled departure from the Saugatuck Center for the Arts. Contact Hungry Vil
lage Tours leader, David Geen, at 269-857-1700 or [email protected] . Hungry Village Tours begins each tour at the Saugatuck Center for the Arts, acknowledging its weekly Greenmarket, culinary arts connection and the Center’s history as a pie factory. There are two tours available from all year long. One is a 3 hour “Culinary Walk”, exploring Saugatuck's and Douglas’ culinary secrets behind their storefronts with demonstrations and tastings. The second option is a 6 hour “Delicious Drive”, featuring a tour of the lakeshore’s producers including farms, orchards, blueberry patches, vintners, brewers, creameries and other artisans. During the “Culinary Walk”, guests will watch coffee beans roast, learn how to create perfect smoked meats, sip local wine, and enjoy the sweet treats offered in Saugatuck/Douglas. Plus more behind-the-scenes views of these boutique foodie businesses with exclusive discounts. Hungry Village Tours, exploring the lakeshore’s plate, is the latest spinoff from David Geen’s successful Villas and Vines, which has been creating specialized culinary adventures in Italy, France, Spain, and Ireland since 1995. “Customers have been requesting new culinary destinations based on our winning tour formula, so why not here in Allegan County?”, says David. Saugatuck/Douglas is the Midwest’s unique culinary arts and agricultural destination along the shores of Lake Michigan. Michigan is now the second most diverse agricultural state in the country. Allegan County, (home of Saugatuck, Douglas and Fennville), ranks #1 in Michigan for its value of products and number of farms. Hungry Village Tours showcases the very talented artisans and superior-quality products to be found in Saugatuck, Douglas, and their immediate vicinity. One of the stops on the “Delicious Drive” is Dawn Soltysiak’s beautiful Fernwood Farm and Khnemu Studio, examining the "connection to the artist and the land". “We believe in a sustainable lifestyle including handmade products, locally grown with local energy,” says Soltysiak. “I grew up working on my grandfather's vegetable farm and going to the farmers market. As I got older and became interested in cooking I was disappointed in the so called "fresh" food available in the supermarkets, and I was horrified by the direction our food systems were going.” Dawn and her husband Rob moved to the West Michigan lakeshore community 11 years ago and have been slowly restoring the farm, creating her studio for the love of pottery and growing their own food. “We raise our own beef, chicken and turkey for meat. We grow vegetables and herbs...and hops and grapes for our own beer and wine making. This year we are getting bee hives for honey production and pollination and we are building a root cellar (a.k.a. beer lagering cellar) for cold storage,” says Soltysiak.
