“Cloud 9” Fair Trade silver and Murano glass pendants

We don’t carry many glass products, partly because one of our closest downtown neighbors is a glass blower  (if you ever visit Springfield, aside from coming to Global Fayre, you should make sure to check out Terry and Gabe’s work at Springfield Hot Glass.

But when we saw these beautiful pendants, we just couldn’t resist.

The maker is a woman from Coapango, Guerrero in southern Mexico, Guadalupe Ramos Rios. Our source, Tom Costello tells us that “As far back as the stories go, and as far back as Ms. Ramos Rios can remember, her parent’s parent’s parent’s were artisans who made dresses, shoes, chairs, flatware, jewelry, and other items for everyday use and for personal dress. I have worked with three generations of her family. Every pendant has six components. When the chain or necklace are counted, that makes seven. We christened them “Cloud 9″ because of there light, floating colors and designs.”

For the moment, we are selling them only in our store at 324 S Campbell, Springfield, MO – but in a few weeks we will add them to our online store.

They have arrived just in time for Valentines Day – and to celebrate, we are giving away a Fair Trade Rose with every purchase from Feb 10 to Feb 14.

Springfield Saint Patrick’s Day Parade and Celebration

It’s that time of year again!

This year’s Parade and Celebration will take place on March 19th.

Want to take part in the parade? Go to the St Pat’s website and register….it’s free!

Want to enter the Irish Idol Contest – click here!

We’re always looking for new sponsors….this year you will get space in the booklet PLUS a presence on the website / facebook…AND we’ll twitter about you!!!! If you want to know more, just add a comment here or send an email to info@springfieldstpatsparade.org

What’s the weather going to be like on March 19? Take our poll!

“Hiding in Plain Sight” by Kim Peterson, opening at Global Fayre on October 1st, 2010

Kim Peterson stays busy creating art and chasing her two young daughters with her husband. She likes to think of herself as an eclectic being, so she also spends her time obsessing over music, reading, being passionate about politics, and writing freelance articles for the Ozarks Moms Like Me Magazine. Kim grew up in Tacoma, Wa but has lived in Upstate New York, Wyoming and eventually landed in in the Ozarks three years ago. She now calls Springfield home.

"She's out on a Whim"

Kim says she “likes the idea of playing with the things that people do, what they think and dream. The unmentionable acts hidden by the subconscious or a spy like quickness. People are afraid to let others know who they really are. Hiding in plain sight is what we, as people, do everyday.” The pieces being viewed will be her interpretation of this concept.

This is Kim’s debut showing at Global Fayre and First Friday Art Walk. To see more of her work, you can visit “Kim’s Eclectic” on facebook.

Find out what else is happening on First Friday here.

Check out the latest with Global Fayre here.

Global Fayre and the Missouri Prairie Foundation

One of the core elements that we sign up to as Fair Traders is  to cultivate environmental stewardship.  “Fair Trade seeks to offer current generations the ability to meet their needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Members actively consider the implications of their decisions on the environment and promote the responsible stewardship of resources. Members reduce, reuse, reclaim, and recycle materials wherever possible. They encourage environmentally sustainable practices throughout the entire trading chain.” (Fair Trade Federation)

Environmental stewardship is just as important to us at home, and we are always keen to support the many local groups that work so hard to protect what we have and/or restore what we have lost.

So we are excited this month to be working with the Missouri Prairie Foundation.

The mission of the Missouri Prairie Foundation is to protect and restore prairie and other native grassland communities through acquisition, management, education, and research. For 44 years, this nonprofit organization has advocated for prairie conservation. Its advocacy has played a significant role in the purchase of prairie by the Missouri Department of Conservation from the 1970s to the present, as well as the Missouri Department of Natural Resources’ purchase of Prairie State Parks.

The Missouri Prairie Foundation currently owns 2,400 acres of high quality native grassland throughout the state and manages an additional 1,500 acres in cooperation with public partners and private landowners. It also participates in conservation decision-making with other state leaders. At least 15 million acres of Missouri, covering more than a third of the state, were prairie at the time of European settlement. Fewer than 90,000 acres remain. Tallgrass prairie is one of the Earth’s most biologically diverse and now rare ecosystems, and we have it right here in Missouri. It is ours to conserve for the benefit of future generations.

So here’s what we have planned with the Missouri Prairie Foundation for August:

August 6 to 31: An exhibition featuring the photographs of Glenn Chambers (more about Glenn in a future post).

August 6th: First Friday Art Walk – showcasing Glenn’s photography and raising funds for the MPF at the same time. 10% of all sales on the night will go to the MPF!

August 1 to 31: Fund raising with MPF members – all members purchasing in the store during August (or in our online store) will do so knowing that 10% of their purchases will go directly back to the Foundation.

Team World Vision Ozarks hosts an Urban Orienteering Challenge at Global Fayre!

Who is Team World Vision Ozarks?

Team World Vision Ozarks is a local marathon team that trains to run the Chicago Marathon in 2010.  The group raises funds locally for clean water in Africa.

How your donations go to work?

TWVO is a sub group of Team World Vision in Chicago IL.  In Chicago they will meet up with a 1000 other runners that share the same passion for Africa.  The funds Team World Vision Ozarks raises go directly to World Vision Organization.  World Vision is a Christian Humanitarian group that that helps poverty stricken countries around the world for more information visit www.worldvision.org.  In the past years, Team World Vision has raised close to two million dollars.   Team World Vision Ozarks has raised close to 30,000 in the past two years.  World vision has taken the money raised and works in Zambia, Africa to build water wells which service 600-900 women and children in a village.  World Vision has also built medical clinics in the same region.  This year Team World Vision’s focus is now in Kenya, Africa because their need for clean water is greatest.

How your Team World Vision Ozarks raises funds?

The group raises funds in various ways:

1. Child Sponsorship- They will have sponsorship packets available at Global Fayre on April 2^nd from 6:15-9:45pm.  When a child is sponsored you directly make a connection to the Kenya community.  You will receive information about your child; receive a progress letter, and child communication every few months for a small monthly fee of $35.  Our team in return will receive a credit of $420 for your sponsorship of the child.
2. On April 2^nd Team World Vision Ozarks will be hosting an Urban Orienteering Challenge called Time Talent and Treasure.  The race consists of a $10 per person registration fee and forms can be found on our blog spot www.twvozarks.blogspot.com or at www.omrr.org. under events.  The group will have a sponsorship table inside Global Fayre and outside in the patio area on the corner of Walnut and Campbell St.
3. The group will also take cash donations as well.  Global Fayre will also donate $1 for every purchase made in the store during the evening.

Oil Drum Wall Art from Haiti

It’s heart warming to see the contribution being made by so many people to the relief effort for Haiti.

A concern, of course, is what happens after the media attention switches to another story, when the relief agencies have another crisis to rush….when people just forget and move on.

That’s why Fair Trade is so critical. Fair Trade is not about short-term fixes and fire-fighting (important though those things are); Fair Trade IS about empowering communities to make a difference in the long term, to break their cycle of poverty.

At Global Fayre we don’t have many products from Haiti, but what we do have is simply stunning, especially the oil drum wall art. The cut metal ironwork from Croix des Bouquets, a small village outside of Port-au-Prince is one of Haiti’s most original art forms.  In the early 1930s Georges Liautaud formed imaginative cemetery crosses from recycled metal cut from oil drums. An artistic tradition has grown from those humble beginnings and now the village has become a center for this art, with more than 60 workshops.

Cut metal artisans cut open 55-gallon drums, hammer them flat, and then mark designs on the black metal with chalk. Using a hammer and chisel, they pound and cut through the metal to make designs. Some are left black, others are painted with bright colors.

We source our oil drum wall art from the Haitian Committee of Artisans (CAH). Since 1972, the nonprofit CAH has marketed and exported crafts made by Haitian artisans, cooperatives and craft groups. The craftspeople whose work CAH promotes have organized themselves in a variety of ways. Some are cooperative associations, some are family workshops and some are independent artisans; all depend on the efforts of CAH to market their handicrafts for a fair wage. In 1999 CAH became part of the “Fondation pour le Developpement de l’Artisanat Haitien.” CAH provides marketing and promotional expertise, other sections provide training for artisans and reference resources on handicrafts.

Here’s just a few examples:

These pieces are available in our store at 324 S Campbell, Springfield, MO and online at http://www.globalfayre.com.

You’ll find the Haiti pieces here.

20% of the proceeds from these beautiful works of art is being contributed to relief agencies working in Haiti.

Fair Trade and the fun of working directly with producer groups

One of the unexpected delights of working in the world of Fair Trade has been the opportunity to work on customized products with our producer groups. Unexpected, because as a retailer we source our products primarily through importer/wholesalers who have the direct relationship with the producers.

However, in several cases now we’ve been able to work through the importer to request custom products (we talked about this before when we launched the vegan market baskets from Ghana).

Our latest adventure in product design has been in the world of finger puppets, working with our friends at Inca Kids.

Since we are based in Springfield, natural habitat of the Red Cardinal (and home of the Springfield Cardinals!) it seemed obvious to have some Red Cardinals made…..this is how they turned out:

The next major event coming to downtown Springfield is the 30th Annual Saint Patricks Day Parade, so now we’re scratching our heads thinking about what finger puppets we should have made……ideas anyone?!

Making Progress

Saturday was a crazy day at Global Fayre – way busier than any day we have had before.

Being a ‘for-profit’ store, sales revenues are obviously important for us. But the real thrill factor on Saturday was the number of people that had clearly made the decision to be concious consumers for a significant part of their holiday shopping. In coming to Global Fayre they were showing their commitment to a number of things:

1 – Fair Trade. Awareness of Fair Trade in the Springfield area is definately growing. Hopefully we’ve played a part in this, but there are plenty of other people out there making great efforts to promote the concept too. Just the fact that we participated in 8 Fair Trade events this fall, compared to just one last year, is a good indication of our progress.

2 – Downtown Springfield. It hasn’t been an easy year for downtown Springfield. Seems like we’ve lost more stores than we have gained. BUT – it’s been great to see much more foot traffic and a growing number of downtown regulars. Feels like the growth of retail is lagging way behind the level of demand from customers.

3 – Buying Local. As a Fair Trade store selling products from all over the world, the ‘buy local’ concept is an interestting one for us. We started at a Farmers Market on C-Street, and we are passionate supporters of local production. What comes through from our customers is that they recognise us as a local store, plus they value our knowledge of the artisans that produce the products we carry; it really is a wonderful aspect of Fair Trade that you can feel closely connected to a group of weavers that live half way around the world.

All this to say that two years after opening Global Fayre it feels like we have started to make our home here in the downtown district of Springfield Missouri. We’re grateful to the community here for opening their hearts and minds to Global Fayre and Fair Trade. We’re also looking forward to playing our part in the continued development of downtown Springfield in the years to come.

Finger Puppets from Peru, made by the Bridge of Hope Fair Trade Project

We’re busy putting things out on the shelves as the holiday season gets in to full swing.

We’ve always had a good selection of finger puppets, but we’ve just unpacked two adorable sets from the the Bridge of Hope Fair Trade Project in Peru.

One is Noah’s Ark: Ten darling hand-knit finger puppets representing Noah’s family and animals fit inside a zippered cotton ark pouch.

The other is an Amazon theme, with eight hand-knit rainforest finger puppets that come in an embroidered bag. Includes a monkey, sloth, anteater, macau, caiman, jaguar, turtle and snake.

The Bridge of Hope Fair Trade Project grew out of the efforts of a network of Peruvian organizations called Joining Hands Against Poverty who are committed to addressing the root causes of poverty in Peru.  Working with women who had no stable income and communities where gifted artisans lived in extreme poverty, they saw the need to create opportunities so that the women and artisans could benefit economically and socially from their work.  The Bridge of Hope project was launched to respond to that need.

Bridge of Hope works with 24 artisan organizations in poor neighborhoods of Lima as well as rural areas of Peru. They assist people living in extreme poverty to form groups that can develop sustainable businesses using the values of Fair Trade. The goal is to help them become independent, successful exporting association of artisans through assistance in the areas of product development, business skills, and export procedures. The work of Bridge of Hope has benefited many artisan groups, and the increased economic security has contributed to the empowerment of women in their homes and communities.

World Vision Experience: AIDS

We’re excited to play a (small) part in the second visit of “World Vision Experience: AIDS” to Springfield.

The exhibition opened today at Remingtons, on Republic Road, Springfield, and will continue until next Sunday.

The aim of the exhibition is to raise awareness of the plight of children in Africa, and to encourage people to sponsor children in Africa. Global Fayre is delighted to contribute to the sponsorship pack; sponsors are entitled to a 25% in-store discount and will also know that every time they make a purchase at the store in 2010, 5% of their spend will go directly to World Vision.

Find out more about World Vision Experience: AIDS here.

Find out more about Global Fayre here.