Keeping Our Holiday Traditions
Greetings Reuse Fans,
I hope everyone is staying warm. Next year, CJ will celebrate 20 years of promoting reuse in Pittsburgh, and we are working on an action packed year to recognize the great things CJ has been involved with over the years. I am going to get ahead of myself because two events this weekend have started my reflection on CJ’s history.
All weekend, the Four Frozen Farmers will be selling Christmas trees from CJ’s parking lot. This is the 12th year they have sold local trees at CJ! I have a soft spot for local farmers and the challenges they face in the off season, as my job before CJ was running an organic farm for the Pittsburgh Food Bank. Jen Montgomery, Greg Boulous, Neil Stauffer and Susanna Meyer were the original Four Frozen Farmers. There is a great article in this month’s Pittsburgh Magazine about Neil and Susanna. The name “Four Frozen Farmers” was the idea of Mindy Schwartz (former employee of CJ and owner of Garden Dreams Urban Farm in Wilkinsburg).
Jen is still the driving force behind the Frozen Farmers, and when she is not “a frozen farmer” she is owner and farmer with her husband Greg of Blackberry Meadows Organic Farm! We are pleased to host them at CJ and to offer our patrons access to local trees.
Continuing on with the local theme, this weekend is also the 14th annual Handmade Arcade at the Pittsburgh Convention Center. This event was launched at CJ in 2004 (thanks for letting me do the math for you) in what is now the Pillow Project’s Space Upstairs. It was highly successful and continued on at CJ for three (or four) more years until they outgrew us. The final Handmade Arcade at CJ was visited by over 6,000 people and was held in the space where we now have CJ fundraiser, the Steel City Big Pour!
