It's as clear as the recycled window glass on which Anne Hopkins paints flowers and holiday scenes: Shopping locally for holiday gifts from the people who make them does more than just provide a "different" kind of present.
Anne and Barry Hopkins, of Meridian, make new art out of old window frames by creating different paintings for each pane. Jason Rearick / The Citizen
Hopkins, of Cato and owner of Forever Home, had her best sales of the season at the Cayuga Community College Annual Craft Show.
And that translates into tax revenue kept local, as well as support for Hopkins' fledgling business.
"It helps the entrepreneurial spirit, which is what we need to remain diverse," said Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce Director Terri Bridenbecker.
Instead of traveling outside of Cayuga County, or going to crowded malls or
discount stores to purchase mass-produced items made overseas, gift givers have other alternatives.
The county abounds with people like Hopkins, who produce quality items through home-based businesses and sell them primarily to their neighbors.
Thinking outside the big-box retailers - buying at festivals, craft shows, specialty shows and directly from the crafter - allows a greater choice of items, mostly handmade.
Nancy Tillotson of Sempronius, who makes topiary trees and dried flower arrangements and sells at shows and from her Skinner Road home, said there's another benefit. Local crafters charge what the market will support, meaning that in Cayuga County, her most expensive trees and wreaths sell for about $45. In Rochester or Syracuse, they might bring twice that.
Putting their crafts in the hands of an appreciative buyer, who might then come back for more, is important to local crafters.
"I want to sell them," Jeanne Bunnell, owner of Bouquets of Baskets in Scipio, said of her products. She weaves country-type baskets that are priced from $5-25. A double wine basket, for example, goes for $18 while an 8-inch egg basket has a $13 price tag.
The love of the craft - Bunnell has created baskets for 13 years and also custom weaves - and having people actually use what she makes means the most to her.
Bunnell's sister, JoJo Newkirk of Union Springs, is a beader whose intricate work on tiny purses and holiday tree ornaments won her honors at the New York State Fair in Syracuse last summer. She also sells primarily at shows for prices that she keeps low so she has a steady income to support her hobby.
The delicate nature of the webs of seed beads that adorn the ornaments belie the price; most sell for $5.
"There are so many people who have a talent or an inclination that becomes the basis for a successful business," said Kathy Scholl, executive director of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Cayuga County, which runs a business entrepreneurial program. "It's great to have the community support them. They have unique talents and unique goods. That kind of small enterprise is important to Cayuga County."
On a grassroots level, it helps keep the local economy afloat.
"When you obtain your needs from a local source, you do more than just meet a personal need," writes Bob Ewing, a consumer expert and a columnist for the Internet information site Suite 101. "You meet a community need because what you have done is make an investment in the community within which you live."
The purchase, he said, provides the seller with a means to meet his or her own needs and passes the dollars along.
"The money used in purchases travels through the community, rather than leaving it," according to Ewing. "The smart consumer is the one who understands the impact of their choices."
Tillotson grows about 80 percent of her own flowers and grasses. What she can't produce, she looks first to purchase from neighboring enterprises before she considers other sources..
"The quality is a lot better and it's a lot cheaper," she said. "I can just drive up and see what I want."
She also has Turek Farms start her bedding plants, something she says is easier to farm out than do herself.
Hopkins either finds her windows in the trash or purchases them cheap from yard sales. She also recycles shovels and wagons and other such items for her folk art business, which she started five years ago when she retired from the VA Medical Center in Syracuse.
Dick and Debbie McCoy's alpacas grow the natural material in their products. Foxrun Farms, on Slayton Road in Cato, opened a gift shop this holiday season that features 100-percent alpaca merchandise. The sweaters, shawls, ponchos, scarves, hats, gloves and even teddy bears come from co-ops to which the McCoys sell their wool.
Their profit goes back into the care of their animals.
"Keeping resources right here at home is vital," Bridenbecker said. "It's important for people to realize when local businesses flourish, our whole community flourishes."
With that goal in mind, the chamber, for the 10th year in a row, is sponsoring a gift certificate program. Any Cayuga County merchant can accept the certificates, purchased at the chamber in $5 and $25 denominations.
"Since the program started, we've kept close to $900,000 in Cayuga County," Bridenbecker said.
The gift certificates are a great idea, said Brenda Wilson, who sells her handmade soap, hand-blended bath and body items and candles at Serenity Garden, a shop adjacent to her home on Turnpike Road in Sennett.
Her "loaf" soap sells for $4.95 a slice, or three slices for $13. She has 43 different fragrances and all of her soaps are glycerin-based.
Wilson started the business four years ago on the urging of friends. She was so successful that, two years ago, she opened her store.
She has only recently become aware of the certificates, but she sees their value in encouraging local spending.
That bolstering of local spending is happening nationally as well.
In November, the American Independent Business Alliance encouraged communities nationwide to push shop-local campaigns through "America Unchained." Local, means in this case, mall-type stores - participating communities in New York included Buffalo, Warwick and Sacketts Harbor.
"The disappearance of local business leaves a social and economic void the is palpable and real, even if it's somewhat unmeasurable," said Jeff Mircher, head of the Bozeman, Mont.-based organization. "The quality of life chances in ways that macroeconomics is slow to note, or ignores completely. That's why small acts can make a big impact."
Staff writer Louise Hoffman Broach can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or louise.hoffman@lee.net.
And that translates into tax revenue kept local, as well as support for Hopkins' fledgling business.
"It helps the entrepreneurial spirit, which is what we need to remain diverse," said Cayuga County Chamber of Commerce Director Terri Bridenbecker.
Instead of traveling outside of Cayuga County, or going to crowded malls or
discount stores to purchase mass-produced items made overseas, gift givers have other alternatives.
The county abounds with people like Hopkins, who produce quality items through home-based businesses and sell them primarily to their neighbors.
Thinking outside the big-box retailers - buying at festivals, craft shows, specialty shows and directly from the crafter - allows a greater choice of items, mostly handmade.
Nancy Tillotson of Sempronius, who makes topiary trees and dried flower arrangements and sells at shows and from her Skinner Road home, said there's another benefit. Local crafters charge what the market will support, meaning that in Cayuga County, her most expensive trees and wreaths sell for about $45. In Rochester or Syracuse, they might bring twice that.
Putting their crafts in the hands of an appreciative buyer, who might then come back for more, is important to local crafters.
"I want to sell them," Jeanne Bunnell, owner of Bouquets of Baskets in Scipio, said of her products. She weaves country-type baskets that are priced from $5-25. A double wine basket, for example, goes for $18 while an 8-inch egg basket has a $13 price tag.
The love of the craft - Bunnell has created baskets for 13 years and also custom weaves - and having people actually use what she makes means the most to her.
Bunnell's sister, JoJo Newkirk of Union Springs, is a beader whose intricate work on tiny purses and holiday tree ornaments won her honors at the New York State Fair in Syracuse last summer. She also sells primarily at shows for prices that she keeps low so she has a steady income to support her hobby.
The delicate nature of the webs of seed beads that adorn the ornaments belie the price; most sell for $5.
"There are so many people who have a talent or an inclination that becomes the basis for a successful business," said Kathy Scholl, executive director of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Cayuga County, which runs a business entrepreneurial program. "It's great to have the community support them. They have unique talents and unique goods. That kind of small enterprise is important to Cayuga County."
On a grassroots level, it helps keep the local economy afloat.
"When you obtain your needs from a local source, you do more than just meet a personal need," writes Bob Ewing, a consumer expert and a columnist for the Internet information site Suite 101. "You meet a community need because what you have done is make an investment in the community within which you live."
The purchase, he said, provides the seller with a means to meet his or her own needs and passes the dollars along.
"The money used in purchases travels through the community, rather than leaving it," according to Ewing. "The smart consumer is the one who understands the impact of their choices."
Tillotson grows about 80 percent of her own flowers and grasses. What she can't produce, she looks first to purchase from neighboring enterprises before she considers other sources..
"The quality is a lot better and it's a lot cheaper," she said. "I can just drive up and see what I want."
She also has Turek Farms start her bedding plants, something she says is easier to farm out than do herself.
Hopkins either finds her windows in the trash or purchases them cheap from yard sales. She also recycles shovels and wagons and other such items for her folk art business, which she started five years ago when she retired from the VA Medical Center in Syracuse.
Dick and Debbie McCoy's alpacas grow the natural material in their products. Foxrun Farms, on Slayton Road in Cato, opened a gift shop this holiday season that features 100-percent alpaca merchandise. The sweaters, shawls, ponchos, scarves, hats, gloves and even teddy bears come from co-ops to which the McCoys sell their wool.
Their profit goes back into the care of their animals.
"Keeping resources right here at home is vital," Bridenbecker said. "It's important for people to realize when local businesses flourish, our whole community flourishes."
With that goal in mind, the chamber, for the 10th year in a row, is sponsoring a gift certificate program. Any Cayuga County merchant can accept the certificates, purchased at the chamber in $5 and $25 denominations.
"Since the program started, we've kept close to $900,000 in Cayuga County," Bridenbecker said.
The gift certificates are a great idea, said Brenda Wilson, who sells her handmade soap, hand-blended bath and body items and candles at Serenity Garden, a shop adjacent to her home on Turnpike Road in Sennett.
Her "loaf" soap sells for $4.95 a slice, or three slices for $13. She has 43 different fragrances and all of her soaps are glycerin-based.
Wilson started the business four years ago on the urging of friends. She was so successful that, two years ago, she opened her store.
She has only recently become aware of the certificates, but she sees their value in encouraging local spending.
That bolstering of local spending is happening nationally as well.
In November, the American Independent Business Alliance encouraged communities nationwide to push shop-local campaigns through "America Unchained." Local, means in this case, mall-type stores - participating communities in New York included Buffalo, Warwick and Sacketts Harbor.
"The disappearance of local business leaves a social and economic void the is palpable and real, even if it's somewhat unmeasurable," said Jeff Mircher, head of the Bozeman, Mont.-based organization. "The quality of life chances in ways that macroeconomics is slow to note, or ignores completely. That's why small acts can make a big impact."
Staff writer Louise Hoffman Broach can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 238 or louise.hoffman@lee.net.
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