Chili Crawl Friday, November 29th from 5-7 PM : 
    We will be participating in River Falls 22nd annual River Dazzle event with a delicious chili by Miller in the Chili Crawl competition! You can come taste the chilis of participating business from 1pm-5:30pm. Pick up a tasting card from any of the participating locations or from the ticket booth located in Veteran's Park during the River Dazzle event.

Check our website for more updated information! www.wemarket.coop

 

Community Matters
     I am a provider of yoga therapy and mindfulness, and as such, I am a sort of minister to the body, mind and spirit of my clients. I help clients create toolboxes and toyboxes for healthier and happier living. My work is face-to-face, low-tech and heartfelt. I don’t offer gadgets or quick-fix solutions.  I meet people where they are and connect meaningfully with them to help them on their journey. “Real” is a big part of my work: nature, food, breath, sound, and more. I’ve learned many lessons through my work, and one that I keep coming back to is: Community matters.
     Community matters in tangible ways, affecting people’s health, as measured in research surveys.  It also matters in intangible ways that are invisible according to research metrics. The harsh reality is that our current society values convenience and low, low prices to the detriment of our health physically, mentally, emotionally, socially and financially.  We are a society of one lifestyle illness piled on top of another.
     WE Market Co-op is a sort of lifestyle prescription for our individual and collective illness.  Our store is small and doesn’t offer most products driven by big agriculture. We have lots of fresh produce, largely determined by seasonal availability.  The products we carry have real ingredients and are often from local sources.
     More than these things, when you step inside our small store, you enter a sort of healing oasis.  It feels different. There is often a genuine welcoming from a staff person. Help is readily offered.  When the staff are busy with other customers and unable to offer a greeting right away, they offer it as soon as they are able.  If there is a line at the cash register, customers tend to wait patiently, happily chatting with their neighbors.
     One of the best things about WE Market is that I find myself engaging in heartfelt connections with the wonderful staff, with neighbors and friends, and even sometimes with folks I’ve never met.  I often feel that my work and my life are out of step with the constantly wired, and yet disconnected mode of operation that prevails (and kills) in society at large. At WE Market, I know that I’m not alone.  There is a synching of the spirit that is palpable, yet immeasurable.
     Thank you for being a member of our community (even if you’re not a member of the store).  Thank you for your genuine essence. Thank you for choosing health, happiness and connection.  Know that WE Market is dynamic and progressive in expanding the community of good and that your voice is welcome and appreciated.  

Tonya Schmitt, WE Market Board Vice-President