Happy Hour TONIGHT!

Almost another week down... and to get a jump start on the weekend, LLF is hosting its Happy Hour this evening at Fish Restaurant located at 442 King Street, downtown Charleston.

We host a Happy Hour the last Thursday of every month at a different member location. These get togethers always end up being a blast and a great way for everyone to network and socialize. We welcome all - members and non-members alike! So come out and show your support for LLF while sipping a cocktail! Tonight, Fish is offering free appetizers and $4 drink specials. Live music starts at 7:30pm.

Come get some local lovin'!

Gearin' Up for the Directory!

Super busy morning here at the office. We're gearing up for the printing of the 3rd edition of the Directory of Local Independent Businesses. We will be distributing 20,000+ Directories to the greater Charleston area this upcoming fall to kick off our "Buy Local" Month! The Directory is a great tool if you're trying to shop and source locally here in Charleston; they are available at our member businesses and at the CVB.

If you're interested in finding out more about the Directory or if you're interested in listing your business, contact me at amy@lowcountrylocalfirst.org.

Happy Hump Day!

Lunch at Closed for Business

After a meeting downtown this morning, Jamee and I decided to head over to Closed for Business for lunch. CFB is REV's (LLF member) newest restaurant - a fantastic craft beer bar that opened this past January. Jamee and I split a bowl of their Roasted Corn Soup and each had a Southern Chopped Salad full of local veggies! Yum!

CFB is located at 453 King Street. If you're in the area this evening, every Tuesday is "Kick the Keg Night," which means $4 Pints of Victory Hop Wallop, Sea Dog Blue Paw and Dogfish Head Chicory Stout.

'Tis the Season

Sign up for your fall CSA! Charleston is extremely lucky to have quite a few farms who are now running their own Community Supported Agriculture Programs. To find out more info, click here!

Food & Farming Entrepreneurship Course

Another great component to our Growing New Farmers Incubator Program is our Food & Farming Entrepreneurship Course. We have par terned with FastTracSC and Clemson to offer a business planning course for those interested in food system entrepreneurship in the Lowcountry. This was the first time this course was ever offered. The course was 9 weeks long - the graduation will be held next Thursday!

We've had some phenomenal speakers come to participate in the course. This week, the speakers were: Brady Waggoner from HOOK, Greg Garvan from Money With a Mission, Bernie Mazyck from SC Association of CDCs, and Tiffany from Aio Design. Thank you all so much!

The class will be offered again this upcoming fall. If you think you might be interested in taking the class, get into touch with Elizabeth at elizabeth@lowcountrylocalfirst.org.

Where has the summer gone?

I can't believe it's almost August - where does the time go? Summer was supposed to be "quiet" and devoted to planning here at LLF. However, it's been anything but! The Online Market is in full-swing and the apprenticeship program has taken off. We've been hard at work at the office writing grants, looking into projects and managing our ever-growing membership.

Many thanks to all of you who make this possible! We heart you!

Sustainable Agriculture Program Planning Day

The LLF team sat for 3 hours this morning planning for the next year's Sustainable Agriculture Program. We have some exciting stuff in the mix and are extremely excited!