Monday, August 11, 2008

Buy Local, Cruise Local

Kudos to SeacoastLocal, Portsmouth's BuyLocal group, for organizing a business networking cruise onboard the MV Thomas Laighton. Personally, I'm excited about it, because it fills the gaping gap created by the demise of the eCruise, which had been the can't-miss local networking event so far this century... until the Chamber effectively abandoned it this year. (Although a quick check of the eCoast section of their web site shows they still plan to have eBrews starting next month. Hmm...) Anyway, this new free event is an opportunity for owners of locally owned, independent businesses to celebrate a successful first year of SeacoastLocal.

SeacoastLocal's mission is laudable, and the main sponsors are two of my favorite local businesses: River Run Bookstore and Piscataqua Savings Bank. Piscataqua, BTW, has a great new web site, as of like 2 days ago, designed by an under-the-radar local development firm called Lightfin Studios.

Event Scoop: Tuesday, Aug. 19, 6-8:30PM. (Boat leaves @ 6:25PM sharp.) More event details here. RSVP before tomorrow, Aug. 12, to Mollie Mulligan at SeacoastLocal@gmail.com
with your name, the name of your company and number of years in business on the Seacoast. If you're local, you should check it out.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Scott- To answer your question, the reason my firm, Seacoast Asset Management, donated the Seacoast Local cruise was because, after attending and graduating Leadership Seacoast, I had a much greater respect for and understanding of local businesses and how much they contribute to the quality of life in our community.

How? Just a few of the ways are by their tendency to buy from other local business owners, by employing our neighbors, by contributing greatly (three times more on average) to non-profits to help others less fortunate, by keeping more dollars to recirculate here on the seacoast, by sponsoring little league teams, by belonging to Rotary, and so on.

I wanted to somehow say thank you in my own small way for their willingness to take a chance, to work harder than most people will ever realize, and to give back so much. So thank you!

D. Scott Campbell said...

Thanks Mark! Great stuff. I'm sorry I'm missing the cruise tonight; I seem to have caught a summer cold. :-(