Build Your Own Bouquet with Quince & Burdock

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Discover the beauty of locally grown flowers in this afternoon workshop! Join us on Sunday, August 20th, for a hands-on session with local flower farmer and owner of Quince & Burdock, Erin Wright.

Date: Sunday, August 20th

Time: 1:00-2:30PM

Location: The Co-op Café

What to Expect:

  • Learn about the art of growing flowers from a skilled farmer.
  • Discover caring techniques to prolong the lifespan of cut flowers.
  • Craft your own bouquet using locally grown flowers, guided by Erin.

$25/$20 for Owners. Class size will be limited so sign up soon! Your registration/payment secures your spot in the class. Register and pay on the events page of our website or in person at the co-op. Owners receive a $5 discount, as always. We hope to see you there!

SIGN UPS FOR THIS CLASS WILL CLOSE ON FRIDAY AUGUST 18th at 12:00PM

Celebrate Watermelon!

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Prepare your taste buds for a refreshing experience as we honor the summer’s favorite fruit – WATERMELON! Join us on Friday August 4th from 5:00PM-7:00PM during First Friday to celebrate local watermelon!

Mouthwatering Watermelon Samples

Indulge in a delightful array of watermelon-based treats! We’ll have samples set up around the store for all things watermelon.

Watermelon Eating Contest

Do you have what it takes to be the watermelon-eating champion? Sign up for our thrilling watermelon eating contest where you’ll see how fast you can eat a slice of watermelon without using your hands!  It’s a fun-filled competition that’s open to participants of all ages! We may have multiple rounds of the watermelon eating based on the number of participants. The more, the merrier! So, gather your friends and family and come join the excitement. Prizes await the top three eaters in the total competition, so bring your love for watermelon and your A-game! The contest will begin at 5:30PM. 

Community Spirit

Meet and mingle with fellow watermelon enthusiasts from our community. This event is a great opportunity to make new friends, share recipe ideas, and celebrate the joys of local, sustainable, and delicious food!

Check out First Friday!

While you’re here stop in our café and check out our First Friday exhibit by local artist and co-op employee, Emily Johnson!

Mark your calendars and bring your friends and family along, let’s savor the flavors of summer and appreciate the goodness of this refreshing fruit together.

See you on August 4th, and remember – life is sweeter with watermelon!  We can’t wait to see you here.

Upcycled Crafts with Valley Creative Reuse

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Our newest Co+op  Kids event will be all about Upcycling. When you Upcycle, you are creating something from what you already have, rather than using new materials. It’s a sustainable and creative way to have fun, and make something useful with your kids! Bring the kids out on Sunday July 23rd to learn about the Valley Creative Reuse and make bead necklaces and crafts out of Upcycled materials on the co-op patio. This event is free and open to kids of all ages, no registration is required.

We hope to see you here!

First Friday – The Perspective of Nature by Emma Miller

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Join us on Friday, July 7th for First Friday opening of The Perspective of Nature by artist Emma Miller! Come out and meet the artist, enjoy light refreshments from the store, and try local beers from Skipping Rock!

Artist Statement: Emma has done art for her entire life life, she has always enjoyed drawing or painting new things. She still has sketches from when she was around 10 years old, and has continued to grow since then. During the COVID-19 pandemic she had more free time and spent a lot of time painting and working on her art. When school started back up her art teacher taught her about different perspectives and challenged her with different projects. Emma’s work consists of landscape paintings, glasses, mini canvases, and animal portraits. Her favorite thing to paint is seascapes, but lately, she has enjoyed learning how to paint animals. In a lot of her paintings, if you look closely you can see certain details, like animals or people. She hopes to continue to progress with her work and someday become a well-known artist.

 

We are so happy to feature Emma’s artwork in the co-op cafe for the month of July!

 

 

Round Up at the Register for the Backpack Coalition

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From June 4-17 we will be Rounding Up at the Register for the Backpack Coalition! This means that every time you check out you can round up your total to the nearest dollar and give your extra change to this awesome local organization. You can also choose to give more than just your change at the register, and Owners can donate their points if they’d like!

To learn more about our past Round Ups visit this page on our website.

What is a Backpack Program? 

The Backpack Program is a supplemental weekend food program for school children in need. Offerings contain a combination of foods ready for consumption by children and other groceries for meals to be prepared by teenagers or adults.

 

Why are Backpack Programs Important?

  • Food goes home with children who otherwise may not have enough to eat on the weekend.

  • Backpack Programs are a key component in distributing agency food within our community in a different way.  Often, access to transportation is a challenge for financially strained families.  Some families are at work when food pantries are open or have limited access to transportation.  Backpack Programs combat this issue by sending food home with children.

  • Children facing food scarcity often have other challenges in the home.  As community members, we have limited ways to make a direct impact on vulnerable kids.  However, we CAN help remove the burden of food scarcity.

 

How do Backpack Programs work?

All of our school programs are supported by local nonprofits (organizations or local congregations) that help fundraise and hold the funds for purchasing Backpack Program food.  Volunteers from the community pack bags every week across the city to provide weekend food for kids.  

Bluestone Elementary School & Keister Elementary School
Fiscal Agent: Trinity Presbyterian Church
725 South High Street

Harrisonburg, VA 22801

Smithland Elementary School, Spotwood Elementary School & Stone Spring Elementary School
Fiscal Agent: RISE Harrisonburg
217 South Liberty Street, Ste. 203

Harrisonburg, VA  22801

Waterman Elementary School 

Fiscal Agent: Patchwork Pantry
70 South High Street

Harrisonburg, VA 22801

Skyline Middle School & Thomas Harrison Middle School
Fiscal Agent: The Arc of Harrisonburg and Rockingham
620 Simms Avenue

Harrisonburg, VA  22802

 

Thank you to Cody Oliver for letting us use your photography from The Citizen article about the Backpack Coalition

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Want to give more? Scan the QR Code to give directly to the community partners supporting these backpack programs!

 

 

 

 

Intro to Beekeeping Class

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Have you been wanting to learn more about beekeeping? Join us on Thursday, June 22nd from 6:00-7:00PM to learn introductory beekeeping practices from Mike Hott of Hott Apiary! Mike comes from a long line of apiarists and is looking forward to teaching people tips and tricks of the trade. June is Pollinator Month come out and learn about some local pollinators!

$12/$7 for Owners. Class size will be limited so sign up soon. Your registration/payment secures your spot in the class. Register and pay here, in person at the co-op, or with your Co-Go online order. Owners receive a $5 discount, as always. We hope to see you there!

 

Local Love Week

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Our 12th Birthday is on June 6th, but we’ll be celebrating all week long with 12% off local items, giveaways, sampling and more!

We wouldn’t be where we are today without the support of our local community, farmers, and vendors and we wanted to spread the local love to you, so be sure to stop in and try something new!

Thank you for your past, present, and future support of the co-op! We love locals like you.

First Fridays at the Co-op – Bombus (Bumblebee) Labor Union

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In addition to celebrating 12 Years of Local Love we will also be celebrating pollinator month with artwork from our very own deli team member, Sylvas Aidukatis.

They created three witty pieces featuring bumblebees at work. Sylvas is leaving us this month to set off on a new adventure, and we’re so glad to be able to feature their work before they go!

Stop by on Friday from 5:00-7:00PM for light refreshments and to see our two First Friday exhibits for June!

First Fridays at the Co-op – 12 Years of Local Love

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Our 12th Birthday is on June 6th and we’re celebrating! Stop in on Friday June 2nd from 5:00-7:00PM to see our 12 Years of Local Love First Friday exhibit. This series features photos from our last 12 years in business, and highlights values that we have held since the very beginning!

Come out and look into the past, enjoy light refreshments from the store, and spend some time basking in the local love!

We hope to see you here, but if you can’t make it for the opening the photo exhibit will be up for the entire month!

Shenandoah Valley Family Farms Cheese & Milk Sampling

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Come by during Owner Appreciation Days to sample local cheeses and milk from Shenandoah Valley Family Farms! They’ll be sampling on Friday from 2:3o-5:30PM.