2nd Chances…Holiday Shopping with a Conscience

The Day After Thanksgiving.  Black Friday?  Biggest Shopping Day of the Year?  Buy Nothing Day?  Why not take a break from all the moral issues on November 28th and swing by Boundary Bay Brewery for a nice cold beer and a first peek at our RECYCLED art show called 2nd chances.  Officially, the show will be completely ready to go on Saturday morning (Nov. 29th), but there will be plenty of pieces out for your perusal should the idea of recycled art strike your fancy.  You can browse (not shop, if you so choose!) and ease your moral tensions by giving your attention, support, and possibly monetary assistance to local artists who find value in reusing what might otherwise just take up space in some landfill.

2nd Chances will be up in the brewery from November 28th to December 5th, so you’ll have plenty of chances to do a little holiday shopping for those lucky ones on your list – even if you wait until Buy Nothing Day has passed!  Our RECYCLED art show features 20 local artists (4 more wriggled in after the poster was made!) and international artists represented by Ten Thousand Villages.

Ten Thousand Villages is a nonprofit fair trade organization that markets handcrafted products made by artisans from more than 130 artisan groups in 36 countries.  As one of the world’s oldest and largest fair trade organizations, Ten Thousand Villages has spent more than 60 years cultivating long-term buying relationships in which artisans receive a fair price for their work and consumers have access to unique gifts, accessories and home decor from around the world.

Our local artists have produced a delightful mix of furniture, jewelry, fine art and whimsical sculpture for this show.  You’ll find beautiful lights made from old frappuccino bottles, gorgeous tables made entirely from reclaimed wood, discarded snowboards made into seriously cool chairs and even gift boxes made from all recycled materials.  Ten Thousand Villages is contributing toys, jewelry, basketry, hand bags, metal wall art, lanterns, and even a menorah made from old bicycle chains.  Best of all, each and every piece of art in this show is made from recycled materials!  What a great way to do some holiday shopping in a manner that is as easy on the conscience as it is on the finances.  You are sure to find something here to please the eco-conscious or art lover on your holiday gift list.

What Boundary Bay Brewery is doing for the Earth

Boundary Bay Brewery is making efforts all the time to become more sustainable in our business practices.  We are lucky to live in a community that places importance on recycling, alternative energy, and sustainable life choices.  Bellingham does a lot to encourage environmentally responsible decisions…there are programs to educate and support local, sustainable farmers, we have an excellent recycling system that is even more advanced than what Seattle can offer, and we have a non-profit organization here in town supporting and encouraging sustainable business growth and practices.  Perhaps this partly explains why Bellingham is rated by several popular magazines as the best place to live in the United States. In early 2007, by a unanimous city council vote, the Bellingham local government chose to lead by example by buying 100 percent green power for all city-owned facilities.The community’s purchase resulted in EPA recognizing the Community of Bellingham as the first EPA Green Power Community in Washington State.  Bellingham received EPA’s Partner of the Year Award in 2007 and continues to display national leadership in the purchase and support of green power.  Here at the brewery, we’re trying to do our part and we are learning, growing and changing every day.  Here’s a list of what we’re doing so far at Boundary Bay:

* We are a locally owned and run business – providing jobs for nearly a hundred people in our community.

* We are dedicated to buying from local farmers and markets whenever possible.  Currently, all dishes on our menu that include local ingredients are marked with a “Think Local, Buy Fresh” logo.

* We have made a commitment to move Toward Zero Waste and, as part of that commitment, we have resolved to reduce our total waste by 50% this year alone.

* We participate in – and highly encourage – all forms of recycling.  As part of our Food Plus program, over the course of one year we will compost 210 yards (or two semi trailers FULL!) of food waste that would have otherwise been traditional restaurant garbage.

* We use biodegradeable utensils and carry out boxes for all to go orders.

* The used oil from the fryer in our beer garden gets reused as biodiesel fuel.

* All of our spent grains from the brewing process go to local farmers who use it as livestock feed.

* Our Beer Garden is certified as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat.

* We will be having a RECYCLED art show Nov. 28th through Dec. 5th, featuring local artists as well as artisans represented through Ten Thousand Villages who make art using recycled components.  Show is to raise awareness of sustainable art and to promote the “trash to treasure” concept.

We are always looking for more ways to reduce our impact on this planet and we’d love to hear your ideas if you’ve got suggestions that you think might help make Boundary Bay Brewery an even more sustainable business!

We need RECYCLED art!!

Hey all you artists out there!!  Pay attention now…we need recycled art!  Interested?

Boundary Bay Brewery will be curating a RECYCLED art show where 100% of the commission returns to the artists themselves! The intention of this show is to raise awareness about recycled and sustainable art. All items in the show must be created with some element of recycled material…the more the better!  The art show will be hung November 28th and will be part of “Shop Where Your Heart Is” — a Downtown Renaissance Network event that happens Nov. 28th and 29th as well as the Downtown Gallery Walk, which takes place on Friday, December 5th.  All artists interested in being part of this show should email a photo of artwork being submitted along with the dimensions of the piece(s) and an explanation of the recycled elements within your work.

Please keep in mind that Boundary Bay is a family friendly establishment and will not accept submissions that contain explicit graphic and/or sexual nature. All emails should be sent to amy@bbaybrewery.com by November 10th.

Earlier this year, Boundary Bay partnered up with Sustainable Connections and made a commitment to move Toward Zero Waste.  As part of our efforts toward being the change we’d like to see in the world, we thought an art show exclusively featuring art made from recycled materials would be a great way to raise awareness, have fun, and highlight alternative uses for what might get thrown away.  As we enter into the holiday season, we here at Boundary Bay wanted to encourage supporting local businesses, supporting our community, and most especially, finding ways to celebrate the holidays that do not have adverse effects on our environment.

p.s. ( Ten Thousand Villages is going to participate in our art show as well as lots of great local artists.  We can’t wait!!)