Every second Saturday in May, the Fair Trade community comes together to celebrate World Fair Trade Day to honor artisans and small-scale producers all over. The day is also used as an opportunity to raise awareness for Fair Trade and to grow the community.
This year, the Fair Trade Resource Network has set a goal to gather 100,000 participants for World Fair Trade Day to take a Fair Trade Coffee Break. Interested in participating? It’s as simple as gathering with friends, co-workers, or community members to pause, enjoy each other’s company with some Fair Trade coffee, chocolate, tea, fruit, or various other Fair Trade products and showcase, and/or discuss the benefits of Fair Trade. Have something planned? Register your event with Global Exchange and we will add it to the Fair Trade Resource Network tally.
Don’t have anything planned yet? Those of you in or near the Chicago area this weekend can spend World Fair Trade Day with Global Exchange at the Green Festival taking place this weekend, May 14-15 at McCormick Place. The Fair Trade Pavilion is filled with great speakers, including a talk by Global Exchange Fair Trade Campaign Director, Adrienne Fitch-Frankel who will be hosting a screening of the film, Dark Side of Chocolate on Saturday at 4:30pm.
It’s a particularly great time for the Chicago Fair Trade community, as the city was just named an official Fair Trade Town, making it the largest Fair Trade city in the U.S. and the second largest globally, just behind London. Nancy Jones and Ervin Lopez from the Chicago Fair Trade Steering Committee will be speaking at the Green Festival on Saturday at 2:30pm. Join us in congratulating Chicago on their amazing achievement on becoming a Fair Trade Town. As Nancy Jones of Chicago Fair Trade stated on why promoting Fair Trade is important,
Though the task of global peace and sustainability seems overwhelming, we know that Fair Trade provides us with a doable step that we can take each day. Asking for it, gifting it, mentioning it.
While at the Chicago Green Festival, be sure to visit the Global Exchange booth to learn about all of our programs, and to see all the wonderful Fair Trade products we have for sale. We’ll raise a cup of Fair Trade coffee together!
After the World Fair Trade Day weekend comes to a close, remember that celebrating Fair Trade can take place everyday. Starting with your morning breakfast with a Fair Trade banana, in the middle of the day at a game of soccer with your Fair Trade soccer ball, to winding down your day with a glass of Fair Trade wine. Making socially conscious choices in your daily life through Fair Trade not only helps the Fair Trade producer growing those crops, but also the whole global community by showing that there is a better and more sustainable way to do trade in the world.
With that, I wish you all a Happy World Fair Trade Day tomorrow, and everyday.
P.S. For those of you in the Bay Area, there is still time to join Fair Trade USA and the Stag Dining Group at the Wake Up the World Fair Trade Brunch. The brunch takes place at the HubSoMa, Saturday, May 14th at 10am. You’ll be searched what sounds like a delicious Fair Trade brunch by some stellar chefs. Don’t believe me? Check out the menu, and the promptly grab your last minute ticket.