Rhubarb, rhubarb, wherefore art thou rhubarb? No, I’m not trying out for a Shakespearean play, it just popped into my head when I sat down to write my column this week. You see, rhubarb has been on my mind all day because we hosted another food writer in town who was interested in learning all about rhubarb pie.

Actually, this is going to be another column written about partnerships and it starts like this. I love the Tacoma Regional Convention and Visitors Bureau, and especially Zak Nelson, the communications manager there. He was talking to Rebekah Denn, a food writer for The Seattle Times, and pitched the idea of visiting the Rhubarb Pie Capital, which she loved. He then contacted me and Carmen Palmer, Sumner’s communication director, and asked when we would be available to do another rhubarb tour as this would be our third in the last six months.

Carmen and I checked our calendars, settled on a date, synchronized everyone’s calendars and then set down to work on the tour. Carmen started with updating the press kit to include recipes people have submitted on the new Web site www.rhubarbpiecaptial.com (go figure!) as well as Sumner’s farming history, photos, etc.

I started making calls to our downtown partners to put together an interesting and authentic itinerary for the day. First a call to Ron Leslie asking if he would be available to take us on a tour of his rhubarb farm, including the rhubarb he planted in his hothouse.

Next, I called Burr Mosby, another member of our local Washington Rhubarb Growers Association. He was available as well. Then it was a quick stop at Berryland to let Lola and Nolan know we’d be stopping for lunch and rhubarb pie and requesta table during the busy lunch hour. Then came a quick call to Sumner Downtown Association board president Jeremy Annillo, owner of Sorci’s Italian Café and Enoteca, to ask if he would make his special rhubarb vinaigrette dressing for an afternoon salad snack if I provided some fresh-picked rhubarb him the morning of the tour. To which he said, “no problem.” Then came another quick call to Tiana Brown, manager at the Windmill Bistro, asking if they could have some rhubarb cobbler ready for us at about 3:30 in the afternoon.Again, no problem.

Ooops, almost forgot to mention that our chauffeur for the farm tour was Mayor Dave Enslow, who agreed to drive us to Leslie farms in his vintage 1960 Chevrolet.

Individually, each of the tour ingredients was of great quality but probably not enough to warrant a trip south for the Seattle writer. However when you utilize partnerships and mix all the Sumner ingredients together, now you’re cookin’ and Rebekah loved it.

So to Rebekah, Zak, Carmen, Ron, Nik, Burr, Lola, Nolan, Jeremy, Tiana and the mayor, thanks for being part of a great rhubarb pie day. I know I keep saying it, but I truly love my job and it’s because every day I get to see firsthand why so many people love to spend time in Sumner.