Buy Local

To those of you who live here in Asheville, I'm sure you have seen the "Buy Local" bumper stickers. Buying local is a big part of this town. We have so many great artists, shops, restaurants and breweries. The good people of Asheville know the importance of buying local. Two great articles in Mountain Xpress by Dan Clere, "Why Buy Local?" and Edgy Mama, "Buying local for your kids" highlight the positives of buying local. So before you head out to the mall for all that holiday shopping,  think instead of finding those great local shops. 

I know here in Asheville anything I could get at a mall store I can find at a locally owned business. Clothes, jewelry, chocolates, books, computers, you name it. I have friends and family that love getting "anything Asheville". Not only can I get something unique to Asheville, my dollars stay in Asheville, I'm helping out a neighbor and I get to meet new people who will remember me when I come back in. 

So think local. Support your community and neighbors.  

What's "local"?

Since moving to Asheville, I have tried to be as much a "localvore" as possible. My husband and I haven't eaten at a national chain restaurant since we moved here. Asheville has great restaurants and there's no need to go anywhere but to a local restaurant. We try and buy our groceries from local farms and vendors. However, the other day we stopped by our local produce stand to get some great fruit. The fruit was marked "local" which we thought may have meant South Carolina. To me, South Carolina is a stretch when defining local  but when we asked we found out the fruit was from Florida! The owner's definition of "local" is the east coast. 

I felt betrayed. 

In the past the produce was marked "Weaverville", "Hendersonville", "South Carolina".  Now "local" means it could be shipped 800 miles! Will I stop shopping there? Well, I will go to the tailgate markets first and when I do go there I will surely ask where the produce is from. But the stand is still locally owned and I feel its better to buy from them than Ingles.

What's your definition of local?

A New Asheville design

JJ Big Paws has created a new design in the
Asheville line: Asheville. Hot Bands. Cool Brews. New type that looks great on any color tee-shirt.
Asheville, NC has such great and talented bands. Bands local to Asheville and regional bands from Greenville to Knoxville. Fantastic venues to hear the tunes. Couple that with the local brews and you have an unbeatable combination that makes Asheville so unique. We have several local breweries in Asheville that serve up some tasty brews!
Our intention was to make a design that was as hot as the music scene and as cool as the local brews.