As we wind down 2023, here’s The Local Crowd Monadnock’s top five Choose Indie Local highlights of the year -- events and promotions to inspire you to spend and invest your dollars at locally owned businesses to boost our community’s health and wealth all year long.
We loved seeing so many of you dressed in plaid the day after Thanksgiving to celebrate Plaid Friday. Heaven Hair Gallery Salon in Keene on Plaid Friday. From left to right: Victoria McIntosh, Torrie Rice, Brandon Norman, Anjalee Call, Alicia Berntsen, and Ashley Corrow.
Number one on our list, hands down, is Plaid Friday. We loved seeing so many of you dressed in plaid the day after Thanksgiving to celebrate Indie Locals (locally owned and independent businesses) and the Local Economy movement. The nation saw record sales from Thanksgiving to Cider Monday. Indie Locals in the Monadnock Region were busy, too! “[Plaid Friday] was a crazy busy but awesome day! There was excitement in the air,” shared April Reynolds of Norm’s Ski & Bike Shop. “We served free hot cocoa, mulled cider, and Benjee's Cookies. Everyone loved the cookies! We had a great day -- and our customers were amazing!”
Twenty-nine locally owned businesses served as Plaid Friday Hubs this year in Harrisville, Jaffrey, Keene, Peterborough, Spofford, Swanzey, Walpole, and Westmoreland. View this year’s Plaid Friday Hub photos on our Facebook page.
July’s Independents Month is second on our list. It’s a time to recognize all types of independent businesses and celebrate their spirit of entrepreneurship, individuality, uniqueness, and character. For the second year, we invited our community to take the Indie Challenge and pledge to buy only from locally owned businesses for a day, week, or more. Over 240 of you have taken the challenge so far! Our 2023 challenge-taker winner won a staycation to the Inn at East Hill Farm, plus other treats from Monadnock Region independents. Stay tuned for our next Indie Challenge in 2024. “This was a practice in being present for sure,” said Indie Challenger Barbara Davis of Alstead. “I would have to remind myself each time I needed to purchase something. I put a sticker on my car dash to remind myself.”
We highlight Move Your Money Month each April. This campaign urges you to support community banks and credit unions and move more of your money from Wall Street to Main Street. This is number three on our list! However, this is number one on my personal list since I was hired in July to become editor of The Main Street Journal, a hub for local investing published by economist and author Michael Shuman. Now I get to promote the Move Your Money message every week! “After investing in Wall Street for thirty-four years, I am really enjoying the idea of supporting my local community and small businesses,” shared Ivy Hess, a subscriber of The Main Street Journal. “I have made seven investments in 2023 and am looking to do more. The Main Street Journal makes it easy to keep up with what is out there.”
Fourth on our list are two Choose Indie Local campaigns celebrating diversity: Shop Black-Owned Month in February and Choose Indie Pride in June. Both campaigns work to make our spending and investing more inclusive and uplift what makes our community welcoming and unique. The Keene Family YMCA partnered with us during this year’s Shop Black-Owned Month. “We already know that shopping local has tangible benefits and helps to build a strong local economy,” the Keene Family YMCA’s website states. “By shopping Black-owned, you are voting with your dollar. You are voting for equity.”
Last but certainly not least is GivingTuesday, a global generosity movement. Organizers share, “Whether it’s making someone smile, helping a neighbor or stranger out, showing up for an issue or people we care about, or giving some of what we have to those who need our help, every act of generosity counts, and everyone has something to give.”
“This was, by far, our most successful GivingTuesday event in our history,” said Sarah Harpster, Executive Director of The Community Kitchen in Keene. “And it’s really helping set us up for entering the new year strong.”
Your support for the Choose Indie Local movement this year sets us all up for a strong 2024. Thank you, and Happy New Year, everyone!
In New Hampshire, we pride ourselves on our independent thinking, ingenuity, and self-reliance — qualities reflected in our entrepreneurial spirit. According to the Small Business Administration’s 2023 Small Business Profile, our state is home to 136,506 small businesses, comprising 98.9 percent of all New Hampshire businesses.
Our small businesses also provide the bulk of jobs across the state, employing 49.2 percent of all New Hampshire private-sector workers. Thank you for all you do, small business owners!
You play an essential role in supporting entrepreneurial success, whether you’re a small business owner, staff member, investor, or shopper. As many of us look to share gifts and meals with friends, family, and coworkers, we can also give a gift to our small business community. When making holiday purchases, Shop Indie Local and spend more of your budget at locally owned and independent businesses.
Purchasing gifts, meal ingredients, and gift-making supplies from locally owned and independent businesses impacts a community’s job growth, charitable giving, and land use patterns. “Say you spend money at a local shoe store,” explains local economist and author Michael Shuman. “Its employees then go to the supermarket, which might buy from a local farmer. The more times and the faster a dollar passes between hands without leakage, the more income, wealth, and jobs in a community.” Monadnock Region independent retailers sure do pass those dollars! They recirculate, on average, $62 of every $100 spent at their businesses back into our local economy. National chain stores return $14 of every $100 spent, while Amazon returns nearly zero.
Local, independent retail businesses help employ many more people than those on the sales floor. They’re more likely to bank with local banks and buy from other local businesses than chain stores. They’re also more likely to hire local service providers like accountants, graphic designers, and various skilled positions — jobs for aspiring entrepreneurs.
Local nonprofit organizations depend on contributions from local businesses. This support extends to civic institutions like schools, churches, and fraternal leagues that aid economic prosperity, community cohesion, and trust.
The rise of online shopping, undercutting Main Street retailers, also changes land use patterns. Amazon doesn’t place its warehouses downtown but in remote industrial parks. As demand for Main Street storefronts declines, so will local governments’ tax revenue base. You don’t have to swear off shopping with online giants or chain stores altogether. However, we encourage you to look for ways to shift even one or two purchases to independent, community-based businesses this season. Need some inspiration? Check out our online marketplace called The Local Crowd Mercantile at shop.tlcmonadnock.com. Discover gift ideas from 200 Monadnock Region businesses. Thanks to Monadnock Food Co-op and Saving Bank of Walpole for allowing us to offer our online marketplace at no cost to participating businesses this year.
Shop Indie Local Online
Also, consider the many makers, artists, and manufacturers who produce their products in New Hampshire. The Monadnock Region includes many small businesses represented in the Monadnock Arts Alive’s Creative Community database.
Also, don’t miss events like the Holiday Fair at Granite Mill in Harrisville on December 2 & 3, Holiday Shopping Night at the American House Keene Senior Living Community on December 4, Artisan Market at 17 ROX in Keene on December 9, and Last Minute Larry Holiday Arts Market on December 10 at Brewbakers Café. Discover more events at discovermonadnock.com. So, give yourself — and your community — a gift this year by shifting more of your spending to our local merchants, service providers, artisans, and other locally owned and independent businesses. Happy Holidays!
The Local Crowd Monadnock Member Marketplace connects locally owned businesses with other locally owned businesses -- and businesses with community members like you. Marketplace members can showcase their best products and services to reach more local customers like you!
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For the eleventh year, let’s shine a light on local food, farms, and our Monadnock Region food system during New Hampshire Eats Local Month, a month-long celebration of our state’s harvest in August.
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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. Please dig in and enjoy part one of this year’s bounty of updates!
Walden Mutual Bank, based in Concord, is a new online bank rooted in the regional food system. Individuals and businesses can open an account and the bank lends this money to local food and farm businesses throughout New England. Locally, Walden Mutual helped Oliver Levick purchase Monadnock Berries in Troy from his parents. “The mutual part of our name means we are cooperative, which means we are owned by our community of account holders and allows us to build a bank for the next 100 years,” said Chloe Wingerter, Walden Mutual Business Development Officer. “We offer customizable loans across the entire value chain, which includes everything from production farms, distributors, processors, co-packers, and consumer trade brands, to even ag-adjacent businesses such as solar energy.”
This August, Round It Up (round up your purchases to donate your change) at Monadnock Food Co-op’s registers to benefit Food Connects, a food hub based in Brattleboro, VT. New this year: The Co-op will pilot an additional way to Round It Up in August, virtually through The Local Crowd Monadnock.
Round It Up
Funds raised will support the Food Connects Farm to School initiative in the Monadnock Region. Their program offers professional development and local food purchasing support to school professionals, grant support for schools, and printed materials, including Harvest of the Month calendars, posters, cookbooks, and other signage to bolster and promote Farm to School initiatives. In partnership with The Monadnock Regional School District and the Cornucopia Project, Food Connects will help the Monadnock Farm to School network thrive and create a new generation of mindful eaters.
“The Co-op’s Round It Up program has proven to be a powerful tool in rallying community support and making a tangible difference in the lives of children in our region,” said Richard Berkfield, Executive Director and Founder of Food Connects. “The support from the Monadnock Food Coop not only helps us foster a healthier and more sustainable food system but also enables us to educate and inspire the next generation about the importance of local agriculture and healthy eating.”
Attend the fifth annual Monadnock Farm Tour and After Party on Saturday, August 19, from 12 – 8 pm. Participating Monadnock farms will open their barns, pastures, hoop houses, flower gardens, and production facilities. The event highlights how farms contribute to our local economy, their role in preserving open space, and how they contribute to our quality of life. The tour runs from 12 – 5 pm and costs $10 per car. The After Party happens at Outlaw Brewing in Winchester from 5 – 8 pm. This free, kid-friendly event offers delicious food from the Outlaw Food Truck, outstanding brews, and live music. A 50/50 raffle will take place to benefit Monadnock Farm & Community Coalition (MFCC) to keep our local food system robust.
“After a wonderful afternoon of shopping at local farms, visiting the animals, walking the vegetable or flower fields, or learning a bit more about a bee farm, we’re very excited to offer folks a nice, family-friendly evening where you can sit back and eat great food, listen to great music, and imbibe delicious, on-tap brews at Outlaw Brewing,” shared Roe-Ann Tasoulas, MFCC Executive Director. “We are so lucky to be surrounded by such a wide variety of farm experiences, products, and farmers. We hope everyone can get out for a memorable afternoon and evening!"
Join the Monadnock Farm to School Network for a Farm to School Day Camp for Teachers at the Cornucopia Project Educational Farm in Peterborough on Monday, August 21, from 10 am – 3 pm. This free camp will provide teachers classroom-ready curriculum through demonstrations, a farm tour, group activities, and games -- just like a real camp. The event includes a delicious lunch and a chance to win a raised garden bed or compost bin. Professional development credits are available. The Monadnock Farm To School Network members include Cornucopia Project, Stonewall Farm, and Monadnock Farm and Community Coalition.
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Stay tuned for part two of this article in August, including local food and farm updates from Acworth Village Store, Cheshire County Conservation District, Cornucopia Project, and more! Thank you to all the individuals, programs, policies, and initiatives that continue to build a more robust local and regional food system in our corner of the state and throughout New England. Together, we’re cultivating healthier citizens, communities, and economies.
It's time to start planning for this year's Plaid Friday, Cider Monday, and Shop Indie Local efforts! We're kicking off our Shop Indie Local planning efforts with a crowdfunding campaign. The more funds we raise, the more we'll amplify our message.
Together, we will:
Show off your dedication to the local economy movement and support our Shop Indie Local efforts today! Shop Indie Local includes supporting Plaid Friday, Cider Monday, Small Business Saturday, and other promotions happening November 1 - December 31, 2023. With your support, we will continue to build traction -- inspiring more and more AND MORE community participation and media attention. Please consider supporting this year’s Plaid Friday, Cider Monday, and Shop Indie Local campaign at one (or more!) of the levels below.
Your logo will appear in our Cider Monday ad in the Monadnock Shopper News (~60,000 weekly readers).
Your logo will appear in our Plaid Friday ad in the Monadnock Shopper News (~60,000 weekly readers).
Your logo will appear in our Plaid Friday AND Cider Monday ad in the Monadnock Shopper News (~60,000 weekly readers) AND the Keene Sentinel (delivered to ~10,000 households).
Sponsor a Plaid Friday launch in your town or at your business. Your name and logo will appear on our Launch Event marketing materials and press release. We'll plan this launch together. All sponsorship pledges are due by October 31, 2023. Send us an email to pledge your sponsorship or click on the button below to purchase your sponsorship through our crowdfunding campaign. Please let me know if you have any questions and thank you for all you do to support our local economy each and every day.
Last year, The Local Crowd (TLC) Monadnock launched our first-ever Staycation Challenge. It went so well that we’re bringing the challenge back for another year!
Summer means vacation for many of us. However, taking a vacation doesn’t have to include traveling far from home to get away. Take a Staycation and experience all the Monadnock Region has to offer. You’ll save money at the gas pumps and make new connections to nurture throughout the year. The money you spend recirculates in our local economy, building more community health and wealth.
Enter TLC Monadnock’s Staycation Challenge by pledging to spend your dollars only at locally owned businesses for one day, one week, or the entire month of July.
Take our pre-survey now and then a post-survey coming in late July. Complete both surveys for your chance to win our Staycation package.
This year’s winner of our Staycation Package will receive a two-night stay for two at the Inn at East Hill Farm, a farm stay in Troy (includes six delicious home-cooked meals, activities, and use of their facilities); two classes at Aloha Keene, a community center for healthy living in Keene with a regular schedule of yoga and more; one $50 gift card from The Toadstool Bookshops in Keene and Peterborough; One $20 gift certificate from Catbird Flower Farm in Keene (good for their roadside flower stand from May - September); and one $125 gift certificate from Healthy Home Habitats in Keene for a one-hour landscape & garden design consultation. We’ll announce our winner in mid-August.
Why not start Staycationing now? Here are a few events in June to add to your Staycation plans.
Downtown storefronts will transform into art galleries during Keene ArtWalk on June 2 – 11. Stroll up and down Main Street to view the works of local artists. The Art is Everywhere event will happen on Saturday, June 3 from 11 am – 4 pm, as the ArtWalk expands to Railroad Square with performances and interactive art activities. Also, watch artists paint at different downtown locations from 10 am – 1 pm. Check out all the details here.
On June 3, downtown Keene also comes alive with food! The Keene Young Professional Network will host the third annual Taste of Keene Food Festival at the top of Main Street from 11:30 am – 3:30 pm. Enjoy music at Central Square (from pop covers to classic rock) and street performers hosted by The Colonial Theatre.
Purchase small bites and mocktails from twenty-three local restaurants and food producers. New vendors include Prime Roast Coffee, Jenna’s Market, and Muse Tapas Bar & Lounge. Get your food tokens today and save: tasteofkeene.com.
Don’t forget to visit the Taste of Keene’s local craft biergarten to sip on a selection of our region's best brews and spirits (21 and over). Please bring your ID. Purchase beverage tickets at the event. Stay tuned for the Taste of Keene’s full schedule.
On June 22, from 1 – 3 pm, enjoy Pollinator Palooza -- an afternoon of learning and celebration of pollinators at Ashuelot River Park in Keene. This event coincides with National Pollinator Week. Activities include a pollinator scavenger hunt, creating your own bee box, painting your own pot for a native plant, and more.
Local plant and compost vendors will sell a variety of products, with 20% of sales supporting Cheshire County Conservation District’s programs. Vendors include Fassett Farm Nursery, Thistle Dew Farm, Julie's Garden, Phylicia Roberts, Cook Hill Farm, and Echo Farm Puddings. Learn more.
Gilsum will ROCK the weekend of June 24 – 25 during the Gilsum Rock Swap & Mineral Show at the Gilsum Elementary School and Community Center. Browse tables, tables, and tables of gems, jewelry, and minerals for sale or swap. Grab a meal and pan for minerals. At 1 pm on Saturday, New Hampshire mineral expert Tom Mortimer will present. View the full schedule.
TLC Monadnock will join with the American Independent Business Alliance and partners throughout North America to celebrate LGBTQ+ owned businesses, diversity, and equity. Our regional partners include Keene Family YMCA, Keene Pride, Monadnock Food Co-op, and Prime Roast Coffee Co. Learn more. Monadnock Food Co-op will launch weekly Round It Up Donation Drives for four organizations focusing on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts this June. The Co-op's Round It Up donation program empowers us to positively impact our community by rounding up our change at the register to support local nonprofits.
June 3 – 9: American Independent Business Alliance AMIBA provides DEI resources and training for campaigns run locally by The Local Crowd Monadnock. Campaigns include Choose Black-Owned Month, Pride Month, and seven other campaigns. June 10 -16: The Daily Good The Daily Good supports food security and diversity through food pantries on local college campuses and other centers. June 17 – 23: Keene Pride Keene Pride supports a coalition of services, organizations, and businesses that embrace and serve the LGBTQ+ population. June 24 – 30: Monadnock Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging Coalition The MDEIB Coalition advocates for and develop DEI initiatives in the region. We each play a critical role in creating a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive region. Our Co-op is proud to support these four organizations and the work they do collectively to make our community more welcoming. Stay tuned for Staycation updates. Happy local adventures!
Monadnock Food Co-op is excited to launch weekly Round It Up Donation Drives for four organizations focusing on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts this June.
The Co-op’s Round It Up donation program empowers you to positively impact your community by rounding up your change to support local nonprofits.
June 3 – 9: American Independent Business Alliance
Provides DEI resources and training for Choose Indie Local campaigns run locally by The Local Crowd Monadnock. Campaigns include Choose Black-Owned Month and eight other campaigns. The Local Crowd Monadnock’s June campaign is Pride Month.
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June 10 -16: The Daily Good
Supports food security and diversity through food pantries on local college campuses and other centers.
June 17 – 23: Keene Pride
Supports a coalition of services, organizations, and businesses that embrace and serve the LGBTQ+ population.
June 24 – 30: Monadnock Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging Coalition
Advocates for and develops DEI initiatives in the region.
“Each of us plays a critical role in creating a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive region,” said Jen Risley, Monadnock Food Co-op Community Coordinator. “Our Co-op is proud to support these four organizations and the work they do collaboratively to make our community more welcoming and strong.”
The Keene Downtown Group recently launched the Building a More Walkable Keene crowdfunding campaign through The Local Crowd (TLC) Monadnock.
Support this campaign today!
The funds raised will support bringing Jeff Speck, author and urban designer who advocates internationally for more walkable cities, to Keene on June 12, 2023. Speck has literally written the book on the subject, the 2012 classic Walkable City, the best-selling city planning title of the past decade. Speck has helped communities large and small understand how walkability supports common goals like increasing tourism, economic activity, public health, safety, and sustainability. His wealth of experience, knowledge, and vision allows him to serve as an invaluable resource to each community he works with, whether the discussion focuses on big-picture change or targeted incremental improvements. "As our city grapples with major decisions about public space and infrastructure, there could not be a better time to welcome Jeff to our community and benefit from his perspective," said Todd Horner, Vice-Chair of the Keene Bicycle and Pedestrian Pathway Advisory Committee. "We owe it to ourselves and future generations to consider all our options, including ideas that a foremost expert like Jeff can bring to the table. When making tough choices about our world-class city, we should have world-class ideas at our fingertips." Offline donations are also accepted. Checks can be made out to Keene Downtown Group, PO Box 80, Keene, NH, 03431. Please add "Jeff Speck" to the memo. This crowdfunding campaign continues through May.
The American Independent Business Alliance (AMIBA) recently changed their Shop Indie Local program to the name Choose Indie Local. While the name change seems subtle, this shift moves us closer to our vision: Community members at all levels participate as investors, creators, and Indie Local champions — inspired by independent businesses’ impact on community health and wealth.
When we Choose Indie Local, we do so much more than just shop – we bank, invest, create, and donate to boost the ripple effect of economic and community benefits we receive when we support our local economy. Together, we build strong local, equitable, and sustainable economies.
This April, celebrate Move Your Money Month with AMIBA and The Local Crowd Monadnock. What’s Move Your Money Month? It’s a time to look at where you deposit and invest your dollars and ask, can you move your money closer to home -- by banking with a community bank or credit union and investing in locally owned businesses in our region?
“Thank you, Silicon Valley Bank, for going belly up just as we at AMIBA prepared for Move Your Money Month in April,” said Michael Shuman, local economist and AMIBA board member. “Seriously, we worried that this slogan, popularized during the 2008 financial meltdown by Occupy Wall Street, might have lost its relevance. But here we are, once again, reminded that the global financial system is too complex, too opaque, and too risky. The solution—as we learned fifteen years ago—is to embrace a localized financial system that is more simple, transparent, and safe.” When you bank locally at a community bank or credit union in our region, more of your dollars recirculate throughout our local economy -- building more local jobs and prosperity.
Traditional banks, publicly traded and owned by stockholders, exist to provide a return on investment to its owners. Community banks, on the other hand, are privately owned and not publicly traded. While credit unions are cooperatives, meaning the members own it -- the people who use its services and live or work locally. “Savings Bank of Walpole is a mutual bank [a type of community bank],” shared President Mark Bodin. “Which means we are free of the short-term earnings demands of shareholders, venture capitalists, and other groups of owners. We are owned by our depositors and our community -- and our earnings stay right here with our bank and our community.”
Move Your Money closer to home and closer to your heart by choosing a bank more in line with your values. Who do you bank with now? Search for them at mightydeposits.com and find out what your bank does with your money. Discover how many dollars your bank invests in your community. Want to Move Your Money closer to home?
In addition to moving your money to a community bank or credit union, we encourage you to invest in locally owned businesses. Why? The Monadnock Region Indie Impact Study found that businesses rooted in our region recirculate up to four times more money in our local economy compared to national chain stores. If we invested more capital in locally owned businesses, we’d see a return on investment that included more community health and wealth.
“U.S. households and nonprofits held just over $18 trillion in banks in the form of deposits, checking accounts, savings accounts, and money market funds in 2022,” said Shuman. “But it’s nothing compared to the other securities we hold. Americans now have $71 trillion in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, pension funds, and insurance funds—nearly all of it invested in global corporations. If you and your neighbors could shift even a small amount of that capital from Wall Street to Main Street, your local economy could flourish.” Ready to learn more? Sign up for The Main Street Journal, published by Michael Shuman, highlighting local investing news and events. Also, we’ll share local investing opportunities on our website throughout Move Your Money Month.
Stay tuned!
We’ll also celebrate Earth Day in April. “Invest in Our Planet,” this year’s theme, connects perfectly with Move Your Money Month. Find ways to share your time, talents, and treasures with our planet by investing in locally owned businesses, sustainable agriculture, alternative transportation, renewable energy, energy efficiency, and equity.
Need some inspiration? Join us at Monadnock Earth Festival on Saturday, April 22 from 12 pm – 4 pm in downtown Keene. Learn about what others are doing and making to invest in our planet, enjoy performers, and participate in activities from Railroad Square Park to the Monadnock Food Co-op. Hope to see you there!
Here's a summary of our major accomplishments for last year:
TLC Monadnock can't do this work without your support, so again THANK YOU! We can't wait to see what we accomplish together in 2023.
The Local Crowd Monadnock - Keene, NH
