Healthy Local Foods
Once again Peace Coffee had the privilege of partnering with Renewing The Countryside inside the Healthy Local Foods Area at the Eco Experience. This was our 12th year being an anchor sponsor (along with Health Partners) of the local food-focused section, and we continue to enjoy a unique opportunity to get our product into the hands of a diverse group of people in a short window of time.
The theme of the Healthy Local Foods area this year was ‘Organic’, less broadly ‘The importance of eating organic foods and supporting organic agriculture at home and abroad’. It involved a specific lens on local purveyors using organic ingredients and sourcing as close to home as possible. A celebrated group of local chefs like Tammy of Rainbow Chinese, Joe of Sen Yai Sen Lek and Marshall of Birchwood Cafe gave demos with organic foods and shared their passion for the movement each day inside the building.
Crunchy Credentialed Booth
We worked with our designer, Haley Johnson, to craft a theme for our booth items that centered around Tree Hugger Blend and our attempt at owning our ‘crunchy credentials’. Through various iterations of concepts, we settled upon an approachable, friendly creature theme including some of our favorite coffee characters like the yeti, birds, and Paul Bunyan & Babe. The booth was reskinned by our partners at Art-Tech in Minneapolis and our presence this year stood out in many ways.
Our Minnesota State Fair hours in the Healthy Local Foods Area remained the same; open from 9am-3pm every single day of the fair. These hours and our revamped booth experience brought in slightly less traffic than last year, but still, we dosed out around 30,000 4 oz. cups of coffee throughout the course of the fair. We brought our favorites of our all-organic lineup to the party, sampling Tree Hugger Blend and Blue Ox Blend equally during the 12 days.
Another Great Get-together!
A dedicated team of few, we did our best to sample all of the fried things this year and have some photos to prove it. Highlights included the deep fried avocados from O’Gara’s, the Kernza eclair from Birchwood Café at the MN Farmer’s Union, the S’more Fun ice cream from Izzy’s, and the ‘Olie on the Rollie’ from The Rabbit Hole. We also did our best to sample the fresh State Fair Beers like the Sweet Corn Summer Ale from Lakes & Legends, Bent Paddle’s dry hopped Kanü, and maybe a mini donut beer from Liftbridge.
This year’s Minnesota State Fair was graced with, similar to 2016, kind Minnesota afternoons that brought out nearly 2 million (1,997,720 to be exact) people over the 12 days, breaking last year’s attendance record by 50,000+! We cherish the opportunity we have to be part of the fair in such a unique way. The Eco Experience and our spot inside the Healthy Local Foods Area go a long way to in helping educate the masses about sustainable choices, renewable energy and the power of organic, local food that honors the earth it came from.
We are so grateful to our staff members and friends who worked a shift in the booth, spreading Peace Coffee cheer to all who entered in busy, speed-pouring-love fashion. And we were so grateful to friends new and old who stopped by to say hello and learn about our mission and where to find our coffee around the great state of Minnesota! See you next year!