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  • October 04, 2017 10:31 AM | TLC Monadnock (Administrator)

    Become a Monadnock Buy Local business member by October 13th and get one free ticket (worth $35) to Hannah Grimes Center's CONNECT Event on November 7, from 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm.  Best of all, your renewal will not be due again until April 1, 2019.

    Tickets are limited — so become a Monadnock Buy Local member today.

    Join Today!

    Need help with the process? Email us today.


    More about this year’s CONNECT 2017: Main Street 2.0

    The Hannah Grimes Center, The Keene Sentinel and Machina Arts are once again combining their energies to present CONNECT, our premier networking event of the year on Tuesday, November 7th from 5:30pm-7:30pm! Over 400 people attended last year’s CONNECT event, we expect tickets to sell out. Get your tickets early, this is an event you do not want to miss!

    The event includes GREAT music, DELICIOUS local food, drinks and more.

    Get a sneak peak of Green Energy Option’s NEW retail building on 37 Roxbury Street, our event venue, slated to open in 2018.

    This year’s keynote speaker will be Greg Tehven (or Greg from Fargo).

    Machina Arts, which specializes in melding art, lighting, and mood, is working with several groups to display downtown ideas generated at a Hannah Grimes “Idea Jam”. Ideas range from increasing public art, building Keene as the solar capitol of NH, encouraging more walking, Downtown Keene as a conference center, and more sidewalk and pedestrian space on Main Street.

    Monadnock Buy Local’s installation will feature local economy-building ideas for the future like a local stock exchange, local currency and online marketplace for locally owned businesses.

  • October 04, 2017 6:05 AM | TLC Monadnock (Administrator)


    Join Monadnock Buy Local and The Local Crowd Monadnock at the Hinsdale Farmers Market's October Festival on Sunday, October 15 from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. at River Park in downtown Hinsdale. Enjoy fun family crafts and delicious locally grown and made food.

    RSVP today!

    Come celebrate the harvest and learn more about the Hinsdale Beautification Committee and Hinsdale Police Department's efforts to bring their town together to build a stronger -- and more beautiful -- community.  SEE how they want to use TLC Monadnock's crowdfunding platform transform Main Street crosswalks into safer ones.  Give a great idea in Hinsdale a lift and check out their Safe Streets demo at this event.

    Stop by our table and learn more about how individuals, organizations and businesses are raising funds using TLC Monadnock, an innovative locally based crowdfunding platform.


    Here we are at the Winchester Pickle Festival in September -- hope to see you in Hinsdale!


  • September 28, 2017 6:01 PM | TLC Monadnock (Administrator)

    Saturday, September 30th at the Monadnock Fall Festival, Tiffany Mannion will be appointed the first Bicycle Mayor of Keene. In this role she will represent cyclists in the region and bring together those who need to be involved to get more people in the Monadnock region on bikes. Tiffany is a regular bicycle commuter and explorer and expects to ride close to her goal of 3000 miles this year. By becoming the Bicycle Mayor of Keene, Tiffany will join a worldwide network of Bicycle Mayors, called the Bicycle Mayor and Leader Network.

    Working with the Monadnock Alliance for Sustainable Transportation, she will focus her two-year term as a Bicycle Mayor on three areas: education, connection and creation. As the Monadnock Region’s only certified cycling instructor, she will set up educational programming and work toward adding other certified cycling instructors in the region.  She will connect college, university and businesses with the benefits of bicycle -friendly programming and connect the great work of our region that points to a shared future of confident riders and supported infrastructure.  And she will create an online hub connecting our region of riders with opportunities to know your neighbor with events and initiatives such as bike kitchens, bike shares and community rides.

    The Bicycle Mayor and Leader Network is initiated by Amsterdam based startup CycleSpace, which has the aim of getting the next billion people on bikes in order to accelerate the shift from car-centric to human-centric cities. It supports and advances the local needs of cycling in the respective communities of the Bicycle Mayors and encourages the Bicycle Mayors to connect and share experiences to create a global movement with a local impact. The program started in Amsterdam with the election of Anna Luten as the first bicycle of Amsterdam in 2016. Last year Bicycle Mayors from Mexico-City, Sydney, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Baroda, India joined. Tiffany Mannion will be the first Bicycle Mayor in the United States.

    In order to be appointed as the Bicycle Mayor of Keene, Tiffany received  endorsement letters to bring this global initiative by the Monadnock Alliance for Sustainable Transportation, Pathways for Keene, Mayor Kendall Lane, The Monadnock Cycling Club, and the Swanzey Police Department.

    The appointment will take place at 1:00 pm at the Gazebo bandstand at the Monadnock Fall Festival.

    From left to right, the Bicycle Mayors of Amsterdam, Mexico-city, Sao Paulo, Baroda India and Sydney

    About CycleSpace

    CycleSpace is making the shift from car-centric to human-centric cities possible through acting as a catalyst for breakthrough solutions around cycling. We create and accelerate ideas, kick start collaborations, and launch global innovations and programs. We have an ambitious goal - for 50% of all city trips to be by bike by 2030. We call this ‘50 by 30’ and we believe it will lead to fundamentally healthier, happier and more prosperous cities. Cycling is more than transportation. It is transformation. In all our work, we never stop asking ‘Where can the bicycle take you?’

  • September 28, 2017 6:08 AM | TLC Monadnock (Administrator)


    The Local Crowd (TLC) Monadnock, a locally based crowdfunding platform hosted by Monadnock Buy Local, hits the road to travel to events in Chesterfield, Hinsdale, Swanzey and Winchester.  We plan to go where the crowds are to let more people know how they can use TLC Monadnock to raise funds for an initiative, organization or business based in their town.   In its first six months, TLC Monadnock raised over $14,000 from 192 supporters for three different crowdfunding campaigns.

    Do you have an idea that could use a lift?  Then, please join us to learn more about TLC Monadnock at two community events in October.

    The Hinsdale Farmer's Market will host TLC Monadnock during its October Festival on October 15 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  Celebrate the harvest with us and learn more about the Hinsdale Beautification Committee’s efforts to bring the town together to build a stronger  -- and more beautiful -- community.

    Ash Hill Center for the Arts in Swanzey will partner with TLC Monadnock to host a "Fair-ly Creative" event on October 22 from 11am to 4pm.  Artists and creative businesses from the Monadnock Region will demonstrate their skills and crafts. Invited exhibitors include painters, wood workers, jewelry makers, musicians and line dancers.

    Last weekend, we traveled to the Winchester Pickle Festival in Downtown Winchester.  It was DILL-licious!  Mark Florenz of Archway Farm in Keene joined us with his sausage trailer -- which he purchased with funds raised through TLC Monadnock. He’s now able to sell his pasture-raised pork and other locally made products at events like the Winchester Pickle Festival.

    Stay tuned for an event in Chesterfield this spring. We plan to partner with Chesterfield Community Supported Solar to highlight their citizen-inspired, citizen-directed project to install solar panels that will bring locally generated renewable energy to their municipal buildings.

    TLC Monadnock's outreach efforts are funded by the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation's Elting E. Morison Fund. Have questions?  Please contact us at monadnockbuylocal@gmail.com or 603-499-7950.

    Placemaker Crowdfunding Update

    TLC Monadnock's third online crowdfunding campaign reached its goal of raising $5,000 to support Monadnock Buy Local's Placemaker Local Rewards program. Fifty-nine supporters contributed $5,150 -- voting with their dollars to bring Placemaker to the Monadnock Region.

    Placemaker is an innovative online platform that tracks purchases made at participating locally owned businesses and offers gifts and discounts to users who spend their dollars locally. Instead of independent businesses working to build customer loyalty on their own, they can band together through Placemaker and inspire more people to spend their dollars at locally owned businesses. Placemaker will also provide real-time data that Monadnock Buy Local and other economic development organizations can use to measure their impacts and refine their efforts.

    This crowdfunding campaign went beyond raising start-up funds for our new program.  It demonstrated another use of TLC Monadnock, to gauge community support for launching a new service in our region. We hope other businesses will use TLC Monadnock as a market research tool, too.

    The Local Crowd (TLC) Monadnock is a locally based crowdfunding platform that empowers individuals to support the businesses, organizations and initiatives that grow wealthier and healthier communities in the region.  Crowdfunding, or the practice of raising funds to support a project from a large number of people, is a viable alternative to recruiting businesses from outside the region to boost economic activity.

    Have an idea that could use a lift from TLC Monadnock?  Learn more about what it takes to launch a crowdfunding campaign with us.
  • September 26, 2017 10:37 AM | TLC Monadnock (Administrator)

    Monadnock Fall Festival

    September 30, 2017 - 10 am - 7 pm in Downtown Keene, NH

    Check for updates at Monadnock Fall Festival's Facebook Page

    RSVP on Facebook

    MUSIC (Rain Location in parenthesis)

    Monadnock Food Co-op Stage  (Rain Location: County Courthouse)
    11:15am Qunicy Lord
    12:45pm Brienna Pearl
    2:15pm Crazy Love
    3:45pm Zero Front/Patrick Evans

    Central Square Gazebo  (Rain Location: Former Ingenuity Store, 41 Central Square, Keene)
    11:30am Senie
    1:00pm SOTA
    2:30pm End of Never
    4:00pm Immune Friction
    5:30pm Sunny Lowdown

    Railroad Square  (Rain location: Former Phat Stuff Store, 84 Main St., Keene)
    11:00am MOCO Kids
    12:00pm Brian Jennings Quartet
    1:30pm Low Budget Band
    3:00pm Zombie Beatdown
    4:30pm Baba Ray
    6:00pm Murphy’s Blues

    EVENTS:

    Fun One Road Race:  8:00AM

    Keene Farmers' Market:  Gilbo Ave.  9:00am-1:00PM. Music by Matt Chase

    Haystack Sculptures:  Various Locations in Downtown Keene

    Bicycle Mayor of Keene Appointment: Central Square Gazebo 1:00PM

    Affordable Art Sale: Heberton Hall  10:00AM to 4:00PM

    Cardboard Explosion:  Children’s Program at Keene Public Library 3:00PM

    Play, Drive, Sleep:  A Music Documentary by Pocket Vinyl The Hive at Hannah Grimes 12:00PM

    Colonial Theater:  Free Films. 1:30PM

    Keene Chamber Orchestra Ensemble: St. James Church 7:30PM

    The VanBurens:  Live at The Hive 8:00PM 

    VENDORS Include:

    Adorned by Becca, Beeze Tees, Blue Highways Trading Co., Body and Soul, C & S Wholesale Grocers, Community Kitchen, Downtown Fitness for Women, Fairfield Inn & Suites, Friends of Public Art, Greater Keene Chamber of Commerce, GROW, Get Real Oil Wellness, Hannah Grimes Marketplace, Historical Society of Cheshire County, Horatio Colony House, Keene Music Festival, Keene Downtown Group, Keene Family YMCA, Keene India Association, Keene Public Library, Life is Sweet, Little Zoe's Pizza, MC2, Meridian Azura Fine Art, Monadnock Oil & Vinegar, Monadnock Food Co-op, Monadnock Natural Health, Monadnock Travel Council, Montessori School House of Cheshire County, Of Moose & Mountain, National Federation of the Blind, Option 1 Fitness, Partner City Committee, Redfern Art Center, Sherrie Paltrineri &Tina Alexopoulos – Lularoe, Simple Nest, Soul Blossom Body Arts, Southwestern Community Services Energy Program, Teds Shoe & Sport, Turn It Up, Valvoline, Debbie Tawse, Keene HS Boosters, Keene Agricultural Commission

    The Monadnock Fall Festival organizers wish to thank:

    KDHC, The Downtown Group, Cheshire County Historical Society, Machina Arts, Monadnock Buy Local, and all of the organizations and individuals who participated and assisted for their support in the production of the 2017 Monadnock Fall Festival.

    This day is dedicated to the memory of Brian Costa; who served our community well and will always be in our hearts.
  • September 25, 2017 6:57 AM | TLC Monadnock (Administrator)

    Ash Hill Center for the Arts "Faire-ly Creative" Event

    Ash Hill Center for the Arts in Swanzey is holding an event in partnership with Monadnock Buy Local and The Local Crowd Monadnock.  It's a fun and festive event called "Faire-ly Creative" Event.  We invite artists, creative businesses and food & drink vendors to consider becoming an event vendor.

    Event Details:
    October 22 from 11am - 4pm at the Ash Hill Center for the Arts in Swanzey
    The Local Crowd Monadnock will partner with the Ash Hill Center for the Arts "Fair-ly Creative" event. Artists and creative businesses from the Monadnock Region will demonstrate their skills and crafts.

    Cost:
    $20 exhibitor space fee

    Exhibitors may sell their work, but the focus should be on demonstrating what they do or developing an activity to engage the public (especially children).

    Interested?  Have questions?
    Please contact Pam Dexter at Ash Hill Center for the Arts at phdex.nest@gmail.com.


  • September 24, 2017 9:09 AM | TLC Monadnock (Administrator)

    Button Up New Hampshire, the popular home energy savings workshop series, is coming to Keene, NH. The City of Keene’s Cities for Climate Protection Committee, the Monadnock Progressive Alliance’s Climate Action Team, the Monadnock Sustainability Network and Southwest Community Services are hosting this free workshop for residents.  The workshop will take place on Saturday October 7th at the Stone Arch Village Senior Housing Community Room at 835 Court Street in Keene, NH. Doors open at 9:30am with the presentation from 10:00am-11:30am. The workshops are being sponsored by NHSaves and coordinated by the Plymouth Area Renewable Energy Initiative (PAREI). To check out the workshop flyer, click here.

    Keene-ButtonUp-2017 flyer

  • September 14, 2017 6:05 AM | TLC Monadnock (Administrator)

    The Monadnock Alliance for Sustainable Transportation Carsharing Subcommittee is gathering information about interest in Keene and the Monadnock Region for Carsharing. Please help us out by taking this short survey:

    Take the Carsharing Survey

    Want to learn more about carsharing?  Read information on MAST's website, read MAST's carsharing report, or come to the next MAST carsharing subcommittee meeting.

    All responses are confidential, and information will be used for planning purposes only. THANK YOU!


  • September 10, 2017 2:14 PM | TLC Monadnock (Administrator)

    Originally Published on January 4, 2014 (Updated September 10, 2017)

    It’s challenging to know how a business really does business: How do they treat their employees?  Do they try to reduce their impacts on the environment? Are they striving to contribute more to their community?  A certification process called B Corp makes answers to these questions more transparent. “[It’s] like the Fair Trade label but for a whole company, not just a bag of coffee,” says Jay Coen Gilbert, B Lab Co-Founder, the nonprofit that certifies B Corps businesses.

    There are currently 2,251 Certified B Corps (the B is short for Benefit) from 50+ countries — and we’re lucky to have one in our own neck of the woods: W.S. Badger Company, Inc. in Gilsum, a locally owned company that makes healing balms, lip balms, sunscreens and other personal care products.  Since 2011, Badger is “measuring what matters” as a Certified B Corp.  Sure, Badger is measuring profits — but to them, money is the fuel, not the end goal.

    According to Rebecca Hamilton, Badger’s Director of Product Development, they had many motivations for pursuing B Corp certification.  Badger’s products are already certified organic and fair trade, but they wanted a more holistic way to measure how well they do business.  B Corp certification helps Badger benchmark their progress towards sustainability, showing them clear and real opportunities for positive growth and better ways to do business.

    Another part of Badger’s motivation to become certified was to ensure the company continued to “do good” while experiencing growth — even if leadership suddenly changed.  “As a small company, we knew at our core what was right; but little structure was in place to document these as policies,” shares Rebecca.  “We wanted to build these practices into the DNA of the company.”

    Mary Cabot, CEO of another B Corps, Dansko Footwear, sums it up nicely with this quote: “Just like you want your child to grow up healthy and outlive you as a parent, we want our company to as well. B Corps help us have faith that this can happen.”

    View how Badger ranks as a B Corp at www.bcorporation.net/badger.

    So, what about you?  Let’s say you’re not a business owner – how can you support B Corps and encourage others to explore this different way of doing business?  Tell your boss about B Corp Certification.  Any business can fill out the B Impact Assessment online for free and see how they rank. More than 25,000 businesses use the B Impact Assessment to benchmark their performance and help them set goals for continuous improvement.

    To become a Certified B Corp a business must earn at least 80 out of 200 points in the B Impact Assessment and pay a certification fee.  It took Badger about one hour to fill out the assessment and then the fact checking process took a couple of days.  The certified company receives a full report with recommendations from B Lab.  Certification must be renewed annually, and standards are stringent and continually revised to make sure companies are really “doing good.”

    Another way to support B Corps is to ask your favorite locally owned businesses to carry B Corps Certified products.  Browse companies on the B Corp website (www.bcorporation.net) and share your favorites – perhaps King Arthur Flour or Seventh Generation?  You can also help by taking a look at what office products your workplace uses and encouraging your company to switch to products from Certified B Corps.

    And finally, one of the ultimate ways to help is to advocate for the state of New Hampshire to recognize a new type of business – the Benefit Corporation.  While B Corps is a certification offered by the nonprofit B Lab, a Benefit Corporation is a legal status run by the state.  Benefit corporation laws are already enacted in many states, including New Hampshire.

    Your support of Certified B Corps and B Corporation legislation helps companies grow and become more successful by doing good, encouraging other companies to follow their lead.king arthur


  • September 01, 2017 3:19 PM | TLC Monadnock (Administrator)

    For the fifth year, Monadnock Buy Local shines a light on local food, farms and our entire Monadnock Region food system during New Hampshire Eat Local Month, a month-long celebration of our state’s harvest.


    What do we mean by a food system?

    Our food system includes all the pieces needed to bring local food from the farm to our plates: the soil, farm workers, transportation networks, markets and more -- everything needed to grow, harvest and distribute these goods to us.  These pieces come together to form our local food system.

    Honoring our fifth year

    In honor of reaching the five-year mark, we’re traveling back to 2012 to acknowledge how much our food system has grown and where some of the gaps remain.

    Five years ago:

    • The Monadnock Food Co-op was five months old.
    • Neighbor Made provided a shared-use commercial kitchen in Keene to help develop and market locally made products.
    • Transition Keene shared articles about the power of permaculture in our neighborhoods.
    • The Community Kitchen’s gleaning program was a glimmer of an idea.
    • Monadnock Menus transitioned from a program to bring more local food to the region’s restaurants to an ordering, aggregation and delivery service for schools and institutional buyers.
    • Community organizers began efforts to bring the film “A Place at the Table” to our region to inspire action around making local, healthy food more accessible to all.
    • Land for Good’s “Land Here!” program coached beginner farmers in finding farmland.

    Fast forward to today:

    • The Monadnock Food Co-op’s annual sales of local and regionally grown and made food surpassed $3.8 million this year.
    • Neighbor Made closed but conversations emerged around opening a shared food processing and storage facility through Monadnock Farm & Community Coalition.
    • Permaculture farms like Village Roots Farm in Alstead and the Sustainability Project’s Monadnock Region Meetup group actively support this ecological approach to designing healthy, productive landscapes and communities.
    • The Community Kitchen’s gleaning program gathered 41,042 pounds of produce thanks to their staff and volunteers, plus the generous donations from farmers and gardeners.
    • Monadnock Menus merged with Food Connects to become a stronger regional food hub.
    • The Granite State Market Match program at farmers’ markets and Healthy Food for All program at the Monadnock Food Co-op continue to increase access to local food.
    • Land for Good expanded their Land Access Project and launched a Succession Planning School to support farmers transitioning their land to the next generation of farmers.

    Now let’s dig in around what’s new in our Monadnock Region food system this year.

    Kids Connect!

    The Cornucopia Project partnered with the Monadnock Conservancy to create a brand new program called “Kids Connect! Farm, Field & Forest” at Four Winds Farm in Peterborough and Tracie’s Community Farm in Fitzwilliam.  This five-week summer program connects kids to the land with farming, gardening and cooking.  Stay tuned for next year’s program.

    Farm Fund

    For the first time this spring, the Monadnock Food Co-op’s Farm Fund awarded grants to three farms: Manning Hill Farm of Winchester, Flying Cloud Dairy of Alstead and Archway Farm, of Keene. 

    Manning Hill Farm will install an energy efficient cooler to increase the storage capacity to store their grass-fed milk. Flying Cloud Dairy will install a freeze-free water system that more efficiently gets water to their cows.  Archway Farm will build a walk-in freezer to store their pasture-raised pork products.  Learn more about the Farm Fund.

    Food Connects

    Monadnock Menus, a local food delivery service previously managed by the Cheshire County Conservation District, recently merged with the Food Hub managed by Food Connects in Brattleboro, VT. This merger brings two aggregation and distribution food hubs together under one roof to establish a cross-state network of food producers and wholesale buyers -- creating a simpler way to buy local food.

    Food Connects, an entrepreneurial nonprofit that also provides educational and consulting services aimed at strengthening the regional food system, will manage the two branches of the food hub while continuing to grow the local reach of each.

    Currently, the Food Connects hub aggregates products from over 30 area vendors and delivers orders to 75 buyers, four days a week in its refrigerated truck. These buyers include institutions like the Cheshire Medical Center; local business such as the Monadnock Food Co-op, WS Badger and Summerhill Assisted Living; and school partners like Keene, Conval and the Monadnock School Districts.  Discover more.

    Granite State Market Match

    Cheshire County’s Double Up Veggie Bucks Program expanded and is now part of the Granite State Market Match program.  This program, managed by the Cheshire County Conservation District in our region, doubles SNAP/EBT benefits for fruits and vegetables at participating farmers markets, CSAs and farm stands, helping low-income households purchase more fresh fruits and vegetables while supporting local farmers.

    Participating locations now include: The Farmer’s Market of Keene, TEAM Jaffrey’s Farmers’ Market, The Winchester Farmer’s Market on Main, Picadilly Farm CSA in Winchester, Hillside Springs CSA in Westmoreland and the Keene Housing Buying Club. Stay up to date.

    Thank you to all the individuals, programs, policies and initiatives that continue to build stronger local and regional food systems in our corner of the state and throughout New England.  Together, we’re cultivating healthier citizens, communities and economies.

The Local Crowd Monadnock - Keene, NH

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