Home Place: Cash Mob, CT - Bethany Farmer's Market

With all that has been in the paper the last few days about U.S. Olympic Opening Ceremony Uniforms being made in China - it makes you reflect on your own buying habits.
Do you purchase locally?
Do you support your local town / state / region / country?
Well, if you live in one of the 15 cities or towns covered by REX Development you can support local Connecticut businesses and participate in Cash Mob CT. All it takes is a twenty dollar bill and a desire to shop!
Since I had both (chuckle) - I decided to participate in the bonus July Cash Mob held at the Bethany Farmer's Market on Amity Road in Bethany.

For those of you not familiar with a Cash Mob - the premise is this: a business is selected, and on a specific date and time frame, a large group of people will arrive and agree to spend $20.00 at that particular business. It's loosely fashioned after the "Flash Mobs" where a large group of people would arrive at at a particular location and perform a choreographed dance, usually to bring attention to an event or cause.

The Cash Mob idea is similar, but in the Cash Mob's case, the choreography is by "Andrew Jackson" (the handsome gentlemen on the twenty-dollar bill) and the event or cause is that the nominated business receives a nice little boost to its bottom line.

Imagine if 100 people came out to support a single small business with $20.00 in a two-hour period. The revenue from this little "shot in the arm" would be an economic welcome - and more importantly, it would STAY LOCAL! Did you know that for every $20 that is spent at a local retailer, $13.60 will return to the community through taxes and payroll?

Cash Mob's motto? We each do a little - we all do a lot.

Note: The July Cash Mob was originally intended to support a Wallingford business but the winning company Sweet Cioccolata, asked if the Cash Mob could be held in August instead. Date TBA.

So as not to let the cash "Mobbers" down...an alternate location, the Bethany Farmer's Market, was chosen for a July 14th 9am-11am date and time.

So Saturday morning, off the Cowboy and I went! Here are some pictures of the vendors found at the farm market which is held at the former Bethany Airport every Saturday: 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM from June 30 to October 6, 2012.

We started off with some fresh squeezed lemon-n-lime-ade. Yes, you heard right. Fresh squeezed and ice cold.

Next we moved on to fresh produce

Then some all natural soaps, oils, and cosmetic products.

Some goat cheese produced from two local farms

There are also honey and maple syrup products

and some locally grown flowers and greens.

Some locally baked breads

...and the Cowboy finally hit the mother lode! First of the season garden tomatoes!

Also represented were some members of a local farm animal rescue shelter who house sheep, horses, and alpaca.

here's a sample of some wool from the sheep on their farm.

As a side note: Every Saturday at the Old Bethany Airport the Bethany Lion's Club Organization also sponsors a Flea Market. (More on that in a future blogpost). Here's a sample of some of the treasures to be found

But back to the Farm Market!

We arrived home, unpacked our bounty...

and prepared a delicious salad for dinner made mostly from our Cash Mob CT purchases!

YUM!
Here's a list of some of the ingredients found in this delicious salad...

Grilled sour dough bread (bread bought at farm market)
Grilled green and orange zucchini (bought at farm market)
Grilled eggplant (bought at the farm market)
Sliced cucumbers (bought at farm market)
Quartered tomatoes (bought at farm market)
Swiss chard (bought at farm market)
Dill goat cheese (bought at the farm market)
Grilled Chicken (out of the freezer)
Honey-mustard balsamic vinegar and garlic dressing (garlic bought at the farm market other ingredients out of the pantry)