Support the Locals FFS
Yes.
This is going to be a whinging post.
But it needs to be said - regardless of how nervous I feel about hitting publish on this post.
This post also contains swearing - if this offends you - do not read on.
Every
month I spend hours, HOURS, putting together our local makers market.
Sometimes I ask myself, "What for???" if I struggle to get the locals to
support us. Tourist adore our market and spend hours there - so where are the locals???
I
get asked - why don't you run the market fortnightly - I ask you - why
don't you even bloody come to our monthly market!!! Organise it your
bloody self.
Every week I get
asked why there is nothing happening at the Art Centre. There is!!! How
come you don't bloody come???? We advertise constantly - how come we
are not reaching you? Are we over saturated with
events/commitments/adverting? Or are you choosing to ignore us?
How
much advertising is enough? How much money can you spend promoting an
event if even the locals wont leave their house to support it. A
community is not a community with out the community - GET IT!?!
I see facebook status complaining of "nothing to do" - when was the last time you attended an event or even organised one in your local community??? Do we all rely so much on our social media that we have lost the abilty to connect to our next door neighbors???
I
challenge you all to go to a local event or better yet - create one
yourself. Perhaps then you will see how hard it is to a) Organise and b)
Get people to show up.
I'm
having this spout off because I was SHOCKED to see some local makers
complain of stallholders/punters not supporting a market over an hours
drive away from us. Over the time of Made with Loves journey I had not
seen this maker a) walk through our doors to support out local makers b)
had a stall with us. Can you imagine how crabby I got - I mean the
bloody gall of it!!! We DON'T need you to spend money at our events -
but we do NEED you to support us by simply showing up. It's not hard to
get out of the house - to offer some encouraging words to your locals -
to talk - to chat to them about their craft.
Secondly
if I hear one more person point to a stall and say "I can make that" I
am seriously going to lose my shit. If you can make it - then bloody
make it!!! It is just the rudest thing to say that within earshot of a
maker!! RUDE!!!
Have
a go at making that item yourself - I bet you it costs you 100% more to
buy the materials and 200% more time to source those materials and 300%
more time to make it yourself. At the end of the day we know you think
you can make it but are you really going to do it? No! You're going to
walk out of the market and never think of it again. So stop being a
smart arse and give out that $5 to a maker - have it in your hand that
day - walk away happy - leave the maker happy and support your locals.
I
can pin point the exact moment Made with Love local visitor numbers
dropped. In town we had a "Cheap Shop" - one where things are made in
China and go completely against our homemade values. However this shop
shut down and our local visitor numbers plummeted. Who would have thunk
that a "Made in China" shop would have been having a good effect on us.
The location of this store meant that people who were stopping to buy
their "Made in China" were also visiting us on their shopping
adventures. Other business' in the community have also stated that their
business has dropped since people are traveling to the next town over
to visit the cheap shops and not spend their money in town - locally -
where it is needed the most.
I
am sick to death of people complaining of empty shops in our high
street - how often do people buy online these days? I can't completely
deny my involvement in such things - I do buy online - but not if I can
find it locally. Locally shopping does mean that local business MUST
maintain an online presence. It is beyond vital for a maker and the
home producer to have an online presence, therefore we can still shop locally in our pjs, without leaving the house at 12 midnight. There must be balance in support but we must be able to support "you" in a modern context.
Another
thing I would like to know - is this unique to our community? Who out
there in blog land runs events and programs? Does your community support
you? Do you achieve large crowd number? How much adverting do you do
for your event or do you rely on word or mouth and social media?
I have been doing community work here for over 10 years - it has always been the same people that support our events
- and always the same people that don't. Is it even possible to engage
with the "don'ts"?
With that rant out of my system perhaps I can feel better now and continue on as normal, with fingers crossed that one day our locals finally "get" what we are trying to do and create FOR THEM. We are creating community - are you?
With that rant out of my system perhaps I can feel better now and continue on as normal, with fingers crossed that one day our locals finally "get" what we are trying to do and create FOR THEM. We are creating community - are you?
Sigh
Mxo
Comments
Secondly, local support....at the end of the day I think people have become plain lazy and unimaginative. You are probably aware that I participate in a growers market at Perth, organic vegetables and fruit and produce. We have a small local following but most of them come from Longford, Evandale and Pateena Rd area. Few are actually from Perth. Turns out most people just want to go to a "super"market and get everything in the one spot even if it is crap. I can't tell you how many people complain about tomatoes not being like they used to but still they buy them out of season and from a supplier who just wants them to ship and store for weeks. Even if by some chance one of these afore-mentioned persons wanders into our market they are confronted with seasonal produce and totally stumped. Here is the unimaginative part, they cannot begin to meal plan simply based on ingredients in front of them. Do you know what is worse than hearing "I could make that"? Hearing "There is not a lot here is there?". Seriously, when there would be at least twenty different types of fruit and veg not counting the herbs!
I know the local cafe is in the same position. They have won numerous accolades and mentions in National foodie magazines and are blogged and touted in social media circles on the mainland. They are a prized and planned stop off for many a travelling Melbournite but most locals have never stepped in the place!!!
Look what you did! You made me rant, but yes, I also have to admit I am feeling a little defeated and despondent about our little market. I do love the few who come regularly and we do chat an awful lot and share and network. It makes me feel good to know that clean chemical free freshest ever food is going home to families but I do feel like I am swimming against a tide of market-made ignorance. At our last market I was disgusted at how hard we had to sell grapes to people because they weren't the tasteless over-sweet humongous-ness-ness that the supermarkets sell.
To summarise - Yes we believe in community but we are dispirited at times. We don't advertise but we are in their faces positionally. We social media network but it usually just generates lip service. It's not just me, I know lots of artists too who wade through a lot of lip service. None of us make any money, it just funds the seeds and pea straw and chicken feed. We do it because we believe in hard honest work, organic food, fair prices and communities coming together.
End rant! And now I will push the publish button because I have typed too long not to!
If any have read this far and want to take one thing away from this diatribe, let it be this.....
DON'T BE RUDE or SUPPORT LOCAL, DON'T JUST TALK ABOUT IT.
Then there's the education regarding fresh, local, seasonal produce. We as a society are so used to getting the foods we want when we want (even if the quality is not as good) that it takes a different way of thinking to buy what's in season. For the first time in my adult life, I have a veg garden and it can be a bit daunting hauling all that stuff in there and then thinking about what to make afterwards. But you get used to it!
These are things our grandparents would be staggered to hear us talking about - I think it wouldn't necessarily be a backward step to live life a little bit more like they did.