We hope your focus is centered on family and friends, the anticipation of enjoying an amazing spread of food (featuring locally grown food) and giving thanks. However, we know other strong forces are hard at work, trying to divert your focus to “saving BIG dollars” this holiday weekend. To counter these forces, Monadnock Buy Local offers a weekend of events to encourage you to spend your time and dollars strengthening connections -- connections with your family, friends and neighbors (including local business owners and their staff) -- while reflecting on how your purchases impact others.
“Walking the path toward solutions for the crises of our day means walking back again toward connection,” said Michelle Long, Executive Director of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies. “So if we operate from a place of recognizing our interdependence, of caring for each other, of believing that maximizing our relationships with each other matters more than maximizing a single bottom line … we would, for instance, choose to buy from people we have a relationship with.”
Our first event, to help you build and strengthen your connections, is Plaid Friday. Wear plaid on Friday, November 25th to show your support for our local economy and commitment to buying from locally owned businesses this holiday season. It’s a day intentionally crafted to be enjoyable and leisurely.
Some Monadnock Buy Local members are serving as Plaid Friday Hubs. Hubs will photograph customers decked out in plaid and answer questions about Plaid Friday and Monadnock Buy Local. Discover the closest Plaid Friday Hub to you.
Local food and craft vendors will set up tables in front of Nest :: mother child home, at 4 Grove Street in Peterborough, including Holland Homestead Farm of Hillsborough, Adorned by Becca Jewelry from Chesterfield and Fiber Artist Marianne Sanders from Keene.
Stay updated on all the Plaid Friday happenings at: monadnocklocal.org/plaidfriday.
Small Business Saturday, like Plaid Friday, is another day to remind you to “Shift Your Shopping.” Shift Your Shopping a national campaign encouraging individuals and businesses to “shift” more of their holiday gift, entertaining and dining purchases from chains to local independent businesses.
Every time you Shift Your Shopping, and spend your dollars at locally owned businesses, you give a boost to our local economy. The money you spend recirculates through our economy and generates a ripple effect -- joining with other local purchases to create new jobs, charitable contributions and more. If everyone shifted just 10% of purchases from national chains to locally owned retailers, we would return $27 million to the regional economy. Now, that’s all I want for Christmas this year!
On Monday, November 28th it’s Cider Monday. Step away from your computer and pop on into participating businesses like The Toadstool Bookshops in Peterborough, Keene and Milford for a free cup of cider. In response to Cyber Monday, a day when online merchants offer deep discounts to divert your attention away from buying locally, Willard Williams of the Toadstool Bookshops dreamed up this new tradition.
“Customers are promised cider and smiling servers that will not crash,” shares Willard. “As always, we'll offer personal service, advice and the opportunity to touch and try items -- with no logins or passwords necessary! Join us in taking a bite out of Cyber Monday.”
View the list of locally owned businesses participating in Cider Monday at monadnocklocal.org/cidermonday.
We love to boast about the positive impacts locally owned businesses have on our community -- like how much they contribute to nonprofits. Compared to big businesses, small businesses donate more than double as much per sales dollar to charities. However, the news tends to focus on national chains and their give back programs. The Monadnock United Way is collaborating with us on #GivingTuesday, a global day of online giving. We’re working to encourage participants to give where they are and donate to locally owned nonprofits in their community. Learn more at monadnocklocal.org/givingtuesday.
Please remember that when you shop at locally owned businesses this holiday season, your purchases give a gift back to our community and local economy. The money you spend recirculates through our economy at a rate that is four times stronger when you spend your money at locally owned businesses instead of chain stores.
The Local Crowd Monadnock - Keene, NH
