Cheers to 50 Years!
by Jolie, Nutrition and Wellness Educator at the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op
I wanted to thank everyone (this includes YOU!) for making our 50th Anniversary Celebration such a success! Even if you didn’t attend the actual event, I believe that the Co-op is made of not only people who have been intimately involved in our organization from the beginning but also folks who perhaps have never been to the Co-op but are interested in us enough to read this on our newsletter or our blog. The Co-op spirit is made up of all forms of participation.
Looking through the photos of the event from last Saturday brought so much emotion and pride for the work that I’ve been supporting for over 18 years. I saw customers whom I’ve connected about food with, farmers who I’ve admired for years, former co-workers who were more like family than just co-workers, so many smiling vendors who got to connect with our community…Let’s just say that I feel confident that the handful of original members of our Co-op would feel a genuine sense of joy and satisfaction that they helped start this exceptional, vibrant Co-op community 50 years ago!
For those of you who missed the event, here’s a quick recap:
The Annual Meeting started at noon and some members grabbed the first of the 300 goodie bags full of donated products from some of our vendors. The results of the Board of Directors election were announced, folks from the Board and our Interim GM reminisced about the success of the Co-op over the years.
Albert Straus kicked off the Speaker Stage, followed by several other speakers who have worked with us in one form or another to strengthen the local and national food system like Dru Rivers from Full Belly Farm, Jeff Main from Good Humus Produce, Ruthanne Jahoda from Shared Abundance Farm as well as folks from the Cornucopia Institute. Our Produce Manager, Bernadette Brogden who has a background in organic farming, was the MC for this stage and offered such a meaningful space for these special guests. This stage was surrounded by farmers like Nathan Brown from Brown Sugar Farm, Rainwater Ranch and Ruthanne Jahoda. Former GM Paul Cultera (who has been the longest GM by far to date!) traveled from the East Coast to celebrate with us and hung around this stage most of the event!
At our Board of Directors booth, Board members, volunteers and staff gave away the rest of the goodie bags, shared Co-op newsletters from as early as 1973 and collected stories from visitors on a memory board. Some of the memories warmed my heart so much! “My first time walking in the Co-op felt like coming home”, “Co-op was the first place I felt the feeling of REAL FOOD! Now we farm and grow our own”, “When I went to the Co-op on Freeport for the first time, I felt in heaven” and “working here through college, best first job ever!”
At our Wellness Tent, three local yoga instructors from our neighbors at Her Elevated taught participants gentle yoga classes.
Isabel Emilie worked the whole event giving tarot card readings–this was a non-stop endeavor! The same was true for the mini-massages given by Danielle Kenna. Our community was cared for indeed!
Our Brand Showcase hosted about 30 vendors who gave samples like chocolate, coffee, pizzas, reiki-charged aromatic mists, regenerative ice cream, local sauerkraut pickles and so much more! More than one of our vendors were so impressed by our community, commenting “CO-OP PEOPLE ARE MY FAVORITE!!!” They got to talk about their products and connect with folks about their passions.
The beer and wine garden was bustling in the most perfect way. Folks from Eco Terreno Winery got to chat with folks about their unique biodynamic wines while Acme Soundtracks and Mind X played music on the main stage. Council Member Katie Valenzuela made a guest appearance and showed her gratitude for our Co-op community.
Community group partners, who our customers have donated thousands of dollars to through the Round Up at the Register program, lined the entry point to meet and greet attendees.
Several people brought their creative juices to the Tie Dye tent and dyed their own commemorative t-shirts.
We were SO GRATEFUL to both Pixie Tribe and Clover for bringing the magic to the kid’s area. There were points of the event when it was the most crowded area!
I’m just going to say that this event was an overwhelming success and that success was due to all of the participation from so many people in our community. From all of the folks I already mentioned, to the staff both at the event as well as working at the store to support us while we were at the party, as well as the financial support by over 20 sponsors, both big and small who contributed to cover at least half of the expenses of this monumental event.
I’ll leave you with an excerpt of a sweet heartfelt email to our Marketing Director, Stacie Larkin who coordinated the event written by one of our longstanding members who has seen our Co-op in many different forms.
Here is an excerpt:
“I thank you for all of the hours, weeks, months, even years of planning that went into this successful day. i am recognizing you and handing you a virtual blue ribbon bouquet for the love, the care, the professionalism, the management, the design and the Spirit of an occasion that bloomed out of all your long and hard visioning and expediting. thank you, thank you, thank you to you and to all involved who made this Fiftieth celebration happen.”
Print & Share