Asheville is home to Handmade in America. A group of local artisans who promote the use of sustainable resources,we promote the value of buying locally and have a large constituancy.
Every 2nd Tuesday of the month there is a free workshop to discuss ways to promote handmade products, run your business and a whole gamut of other neat stuff.
visit them at
http://www.handmadeinamerica.orgor go to my website
http://www.naturesknots.net and follow the link
There is a huge push in this country to put Americans back to work and stop buying the cheap crap made by slave labor in another country. I've been on this bandwagon for a few years now and take every opportunity to talk with folks about the advantages of buying local goods. Western North carolina is ripe with people who are following this trend. Even our local grocery store chains buy their beef and vegetables from their next door neighbors. As do most of our restaurants. This is huge as it lessens the carbon footprint we leave just to get our food. Farmers markets, co ops and galleries carry local crafts peoples work and help drive the economy.
Just in handcrafted items in western NC the annual impact to business and those who sell them is $210,000,000. And it is projected to continue growing.
I've been curious as to why it has taken CM so long to promote this, afterall Handmade in America is what we're all about....
