Local (Businesses) First


My son, Dylan is a whiz on the snare and I was so proud of him for marching in the Roots & Heritage Festival parade, a celebration of our African American cultural history. He plays with March Madness, a band formed to promote Local First, a group dedicated to supporting local businesses.
I've blogged about it before, and, yes, I have an Amazon Card, shop at Michaels and buy jeans at Old Navy; but whenever possible I patronize restaurants, boutiques, coffee shops, galleries and other businesses owned and operated by fellow Kentuckians. And I usually get a little better at it after watching the band put forth such extraordinary effort at one of their events.
It was a splendid, warm (but not hot) day with brilliant blue skies, the air filled with the sounds of jazz and, of course, March Madness, performing pieces from Austin Powers and other traditional parade music. White people may be a minority at the event, but green, yellow and red abound!


Comments

Kelly Jeanette Swift said…
That looks cool. I agree. Supporting local businesses is a good thing. If we ignored them for the conveninces of the chain stores we will lose our local color, our towns' unique looks.
September 19, 2009 at 9:34 PM
Karin Bartimole said…
Looks like colorful fun, on a day of perfection! Dylan looks great - that hair is hilarious!!
We have a similar organization, promoting local support for our small business owners- it's nice to see that becoming more of a priority to community building in towns across the country.
September 20, 2009 at 12:15 PM
Anonymous said…
what a fabulously fun day it looks like you had! i love all the colors and brightness -- the green hair in particular. what a blast! i'm so glad the day was nice and warm but not too hot.

portland is very much a "local first" city too and i have weened myself from most of "the biggies" (except amazon!). i try to shop only at our local non-corporate-chain grocery store, and art supply places, and refuse to get coffee anywhere but our local shop(s). sometimes it's hard (like with camping supplies and my husband's music "stuff"), but all in all we are doing good things for our communities.

(every time i come here i get lost in your fishies -- i love them!)
September 20, 2009 at 1:33 PM
Katiejane said…
This looks fun! I try to shop local, too, when I can. I love the green hair. He may start something, here.
September 20, 2009 at 3:09 PM
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