Fall River’s waterfront businesses host inaugural Mrs. Roper Romp
A parade of 50 red-headed, caftan-clad pedestrians made their way along the city’s waterfront for Fall River’s inaugural Mrs. Roper Romp. Here’s a recap of Thursday’s “Three’s Company” themed celebration.
- Tiverton-based tour and hospitality company Farmcoast Experience launched in early October.
- Led by Erica Arruda, the venture involves a double-decker open-topped bus imported to the U.S.
- She is rolling with pop-ups and is focused on booking brewery, wine and food tours.
TIVERTON — If you live in and around southeastern Massachusetts, you know Rhode Island’s iconic Big Blue Bug. Now there’s another Ocean State sight turning motorists’ heads on the opposite side of the Braga Bridge — the big blue bus.
There’s a new Tiverton-based tour and hospitality business rolling out a treat for all the senses, including your sense of adventure, with an immersive “all-access pass” to SouthCoast’s hidden gems, with unique flair.
Farmcoast Experience launched in early October aboard a decked-out turquoise blue double-decker bus, offering a new go-to for foodies and fun-lovers alike.
“I want to bring more exposure to the adventure and tourism that is available in our backyard here in the Farmcoast,” said Erica Arruda, longtime Tiverton resident at the helm of Farmcoast Experience. She emphasized that tours are not just for out-of-towners. “It’s about uncovering the secrets that even the locals don’t necessarily know about.”
For Arruda, a self-dubbed “dreamweaver,” this tourism venture has been roughly 10 years in the making, and now that her dream has become reality her mission is to do the same for others.
“If you can dream it and the bus can be a vessel for you to live it out, that’s what I want to do,” Arruda said.
What to expect with a Farmcoast Experience
Farmcoast Experience — the first-ever double-decker bus to be registered in Rhode Island — set out on its official maiden voyage the first weekend of October, during which a group of 35 family and friends, including Arruda’s two sons, ages 9 and 7, embarked on a journey filled with music, mingling and SouthCoast sights that ended at their first destination, Buzzards Bay Brewing.
There, guests enjoyed a “classic New England Farmcoast afternoon” tasting local beer, wine and eats, and getting lost in a corn maze, the Westport fixture’s annual fall tradition.
“The joy in their faces was remarkable,” she said of her youngest guests.
Arruda’s goal is to continue to create memories through curated tours to southeastern Massachusetts spots — whether it’s driving down to South Shore Beach at sunset while enjoying charcuterie with your friends, or taking in the rolling hills enroute to Horseneck Beach, or enjoying a bird’s eye view of Tiverton’s Nanaquaket Pond from atop the bus with a stop for some seafood at Evelyn’s Drive-In.
A Farmcoast adventure encompasses the destination and the journey there, Arruda said.
They’ll feature curated itineraries, such as foodie, brewery, vineyard and holiday tours, and hit the road for private events, festivals, farm-to-table dinners, community events, and eclectic offerings like the “Goodest Boy Brigade” — a dog-friendly tour that’s in the works.
Farmcoast territory includes Westport, Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Mattapoisett and New Bedford, as well as Tiverton and Little Compton, Rhode Island.
Local businesses highlighted include Buzzards Bay Brewing, Evelyn’s, Westport Rivers Vineyard, Nasketucket Bay Vineyard in Fairhaven, Sakonnet Bay Vineyards in Little Compton, and Running Brook Vineyard in Dartmouth. Arruda said they’ll also be partnering with Servedwell Hospitality, the company behind New Bedford’s Cisco Brewery and The Black Whale, and feature stops at Tiverton’s Coastal Roasters and Tiverton Farmers Market.
Tours vary in cost from $50 to $125 per person, with discounts available.
‘Unhinged’ idea that spans across the Atlantic
Arruda, a realtor with Keller Williams Coastal, has prior experience in tourism and hospitality. But the Farmcoast project was a significant detour from her initial life trajectory, which included a master’s degree in criminal forensics, work alongside medical examiners in Florida, and position with the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office.
Since pivoting to real estate nearly a decade ago, Arruda said she’s never looked back.
A backpacking trip in Europe years ago served as the first spark for her own local tourism business, an “unhinged” idea that eventually reignited last summer.
According to Arruda, she was brainstorming with a friend on a unique model for her tour company, in her effort to “create magic in the Farmcoast” for folks in search of something little different from the well-traversed tourist destinations like Newport, when she had her light bulb moment.
Because “the journey is the destination,” Arruda landed on a double-decker bus as the perfect space to provide a truly immersive and original experience from the moment guests hit the road.
So she began her search for the double-decker that Farmcoast Experience would call home, which stretched across the Atlantic.
Through a bus broker she connected with halfway across the world in Tanzania, where he’s launching double-decker safari tours, Arruda was put in touch with Double Decker Imports, which specializes in sourcing iconic British buses to creative entrepreneurs and enthusiasts in the United States.
The wheels got turning on her tour company in August 2024, and this past March she finally took the “leap of faith” and purchased a 1987 Leyland Olympian double-decker in the UK — an open-air version of the classic, red London bus in order to meet R.I. Department of Transportation requirements — to transform into her own one-of-a-kind hospitality business on wheels.
It was painted Farmcoast’s signature coastal-inspired turquoise before being shipped to the states in May.
Arruda picked up the bus in Connecticut where she got to take a spin on another Double Decker Imports “success story” the Mo Pho Bus — a mobile photography studio and event venue in New Haven — before driving Farmcoast Experience to its own New England home base in Tiverton.
Bus ‘a vessel for connection’
Since then, it’s set out on some small friends and family test runs and the bus has made its unofficial debut at community events like the Tiverton Celebrates Parade and Little Compton 350th.
The latter is also a large part of Arruda’s mission with Farmcoast Experience, which extends well beyond tours.
“Part of what I really want to do is have this bus be a vessel for connection,” said Arruda. “I want it to be something our community can utilize as a resource for things like parades and nonprofits and events that benefit the community.”
Pop-up tours, karaoke, holiday trolley planned
Now five months behind her intended launch date, which she was hoping would happen in time for a SouthCoast summer, Arruda said her current focus is getting Farmcoast tours slowly rolling with pop-ups.
Then brewery, wine, food tours will be thrown into the rotation a couple of times a month.
Those interested in hopping aboard can mark their calendars for their upcoming Farmcoast Frolic on Oct. 18, headed to Westport Rivers Vineyard and Buzzards Bay Brewing; a Buzzards Bay pop-up on Oct. 24; and Winery After Dark at Westport Rivers on Oct. 25.
Plans down the road include upgrading the interior — currently a standard city bus layout — with some special features that embrace a coastal vibe.
Arruda said she’s looking to eventually personalize the bus with nautical elements, including making the driver’s seat look like the captain’s quarters of a boat, and adding tables so they can host food events on board.
The vision for the top deck includes the live music and harvest dinners, working with local farms and chefs to create a “dining experience” with meals and private events at various scenic spots on the SouthCoast.
The bus accommodates 68 people, with capacity for 42 people atop the bus in the open-air section and 26 in the fully-enclosed lower level, which will allow for year-round operation.
When open-air season wraps, Arruda said she plans to keep the fun rolling with karaoke and trivia nights, historical tours, and food tours in the lower saloon of the bus in the cooler months.
This Christmas season, in collaboration with the Tiverton Police Department, Farmcoast will be launching a family-friendly tour tentatively called the Holly Jolly Whoville Trolley, which was described as a new kind of Polar Express.
The Grinch-themed tour will include stops at Christmas tree farms in the Tiverton area, where kids can enjoy hot cocoa, cookies and story time with the “Mean One” himself, as well as gather kids’ letters to the North Pole.
‘A win-win for everybody’
While Farmocast Experience’s journey has only just begun, Arruda said it’s been extremely well-received by the community as well as local businesses, who’ve hopped on board as partners.
As the big blue bus takes off on its inaugural season of SouthCoast “sightseeing, but with a personality,” Arruda said her goal is to continue to build those relationships and bring exposure to all the unique things the region offers.
“I want to make it a win-win for everybody,” Arruda said. “I’m so excited to see what unfolds and how this can really create a stronger community,” she added.
For more information on Farmcoast Experience or to book a tour, visit their website at or check out their Facebook and Instagram pages.
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