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A Call for Photographs

If you love photography here’s a good opportunity to show off your work in the Spartanburg Convention and Visitors Bureau guide books.

The bureau is looking for photographs that showcase sights throughout the 840 square miles of Spartanburg County. Pictures that are chosen will be published in the 2010 Spartanburg Visitors’ Guide. The guides will be distributed all 9 South Carolina Welcome Centers, the Greenville/Spartanburg International Airport, at South Carolina AAA offices, during trade shows and conferences attended by the bureau, at sporting events in Spartanburg and in area hotels.

This year, 50,000 copies of the guides will be printed and distributed. That’s up 20,000 from last year.

You have until Aug. 31 to submit your entries. Photographs must be high resolution and presented on CD-ROM. You may mail or hand-deliver your submissions to Amy Phillips at the Spartanburg Convention and Visitors Bureau, 298 Magnolia Street, Spartanburg, S. C. 29306.

Contact Amy at aphillips@visitspartanburg.com or call 594-5050 for further information.

A Vacation Surprise

It’s Our Earth shop owners Xris and Richard Rahn believe it’s possible to reuse almost anything. We found their store in Wheaton, Illinois during a recent vacation trip.

“Vintage fashion and eco-friendly products” is how the Rahns describe their shop on Wheaton’s North Main Street.

We purchase a lamp in the shop that was made from amber-colored recycled glass. Remnants of burgundy-colored drapery fabric were used to make the shade. The lamp looks great on a small table in our dining room.

If we’d been in the market for them, we also could have brought home messenger bags made from burlap coffee sacks, purses crafted from candy wrappers and sketch pads that had LP album jackets for covers.

The vinyl records from the jackets were molded into chip serving bowls.

Another item that caught my eye was the bracelets made from bicycle spokes.

And here was a cool idea. Old playing cards are used as price tags in the shop.

It’s not possible to tell you about all that’s inside the Rahn’s store, but you can check in out for yourself at www.itsourearth.com.

Outstanding Achievement

Congratulations to everybody at Global Bike -Winner of the international Beyond Sport Award.

Spartanburg-based Global Bike distributes bikes to health workers in developing countries so they can travel more easily to visit patients.

Contribute today:
www.Globalbike.org


$150 contribution will purchase one bike.

Kelly Lowry (L) and Curt McPhail accepted the award at ceremonies in London, England.

A co-op grocery store in downtown Spartanburg?

Upstate Food Co-op in Six Mile is one of two such stores statewide. The other one is located in N. Myrtle Beach.

Ashley Campbell and Angie Shulman have begun an effort to found a co-op grocery store in downtown Spartanburg.

For folks unfamiliar with how co-ops work, sustainability is at the forefront of every stock-purchasing decision.

Bins would be stocked with locally-grown produce. Goods packed, baked or made in Spartanburg would be purchased whenever possible, instead of stock that must be shipped from outside the state or region.

“We want to be a community destination, not just a grocery store,” Ashley said.

Co-op’s are owned by shoppers who’ve purchase memberships. After three years, members share in the store’s profits.

The percentage of profits paid is based on the how much individual members have purchased in the store during the year.

Membership fees can be offset by signing up to work a few hours in the store each week.

“Sixty to 70 percent of every dollar will go back into the community,” Ashley said.

Plans for the store are in the initial stages, but Ashley said they hope to open late this fall.

We’ll post progress reports, so keep watching for the news.