Promoting local trade

This part of Burgundy attracts quite a few tourists, and for a varied number of reasons.

Pot d'accueil - Saint-Gengoux-le-National

Some come here to cycle, others to walk; some are hunting for special wines, others want to indulge in culture; and even tourists with a more contemplative character looking for spiritual enrichment will find what they are looking for, with Taizé next door.
Of course that is good news for those working directly in the tourist trade, such as gîte owners, hotels, camp sites, restaurants, but also local traders would not mind to get a small piece of this pie.

Smoked salmon of Fumage Artisanal de Bourgogne

And that is exactly the reason, why the Tourist Office in Saint-Gengoux in close cooperation with the local traders organises, during the summer months, on Sunday morning between 11h00 and 12h00 a pot d'accueil. During this event the local tradesmen and tradeswomen can promote their produce.
In practice this means that the local wine growers will present their wines, the various pastry cooks will dish out samples of their produce, and the same goes for domestic caterers, an artisanal Scottish salmon smoker, a producer of fresh fruit juices, etc. etc.
In a word, there is something to everyone's taste, and apart from tourists who have been informed of these tastings by the campsite, hotel or gîte they are staying in, there are always those tourists who popped by just to get the town map but who stayed much longer then they intended.

The contribution of Chocolatier Demortière

And of course that is the whole purpose of the exercise. The local traders are convinced that this promotion gives them clientele they would normally not attract to their shops.

The proprietors of La Tuilerie de Chazelle are usually also present at the pot d'accueil as volunteers of the OT Saint-Gengoux.