A few weekends ago Sally and I brought the last couple bags of fleeces we had put aside to get processed at Hope Spinnery. Check out some of Peter’s pictures of the space, and read about this incredible Maine business.

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Our intern Bitzy Mitchell designed the winning entry for the Portland Buy Local T-shirt design contest. Check out the design and what she said about it.

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The last few weeks we’ve been getting kind of crafty trying to get some branding and graphics together for our new retail store- Eli-Phant. I’ve included pictures of some of our projects, and even a quick how-to.

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In celebration of “Independents Week“, Portland Buy Local circulated several copies of the Declaration of Independents– an opportunity for you to declare your support for the independent businesses that make Portland “a singular city and great place to live”.

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I am going to put it out there that the North Street Community Garden in Portland is the most scenic community garden in the country.

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In which Bitzy Mitchell introduces herself to the Port City World.

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Yesterday Bitsy (our new intern for Port City Studios) and I went over to watch Vivian Beer finish up the installation of her two public art pieces at Winslow Park. As co-chair of the Winslow Park Selection Committee with Jay York, I was part of the group that selected Vivian’s work for this location. It was a fun process, and it is particularly exciting to see the pieces in place.

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Submit a design for the Portland Buy Local T-shirt design contest. I’ve included submission instructions and guidelines in this post.

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I finally got around to making some final updates to the Indie Biz Awards site. Perhaps most importantly, I added an “Acknowledgements” page, giving thanks to the incredible volunteer committee (Avery, Susan, Peter, Dave, Heather and Brianna!!) that worked with me to organize the event, as well as the event sponsors, the silent auction and [...]

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Last Friday and Saturday I joined more than 500 other business-people and “local” activists from around the country for BALLE’s 6th Annual Conference in Boston, entitled Grow Deep. BALLE (the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies) is a nationwide organization that provides resources to local and regional networks of local and independent businesses working towards [...]

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Meet Justin Alfond
Democratic Candidate for State Senate District 8
May 15th from 7-8:30 pm
253 Congress Street
(home of Port City Studios and Eli Phant)
Peter Eiermann, Sally Struever & Nolan Thompson invite you to join us for a meet and greet with Justin Alfond- former Director of the League of Young Voters, and currently a candidate for State [...]

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MAY 22nd at SPACE Gallery
6:30-10pm
This event has been one of my recent obsessions- I hope folks in town can make it out! The Indie Biz Awards is Portland Buy Local’s first fundraiser, and it looks like it might even raise some funds! Amazing!
Anyway- the voting is going on as we speak, and this is your [...]

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We had a great time at ILAP’s Cele Soirée Fundraiser last weekend. It was hoppin! They ended up having more than 400 people attend the event this year– more than they have had any other year. And they managed to raise some money– always a good sign with a fundraiser. I was on the event [...]

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This Thursday at 2pm at Maine Green Building Supply, the City of Portland will hold a press event regarding the release of the Sustainable Portland Taskforce Report and Brochure (Port City Studios did the editing and design for the brochure). From the Press Advisory:
This Thursday, the Sustainable Portland Taskforce will release its Sustainable Portland Report. [...]

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Peter and I are on the event committee for the First Annual Portland Indie Biz Awards– a fundraiser for Portland Buy Local and the Portland Independent Business & Community Alliance (I am on the Board).

We’re asking that everyone and anyone nominate their favorite Portland Businesses for an award. The awards will be presented on May [...]

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I’ve been working with ILAP on the planning committee for CeleSoirée, their annual fundraiser, a “celebration of immigration through the arts”. The event is this Friday night and will include great food, a silent auction (including a rare opportunity to get your hands on some Tamworth Farm yarn) and some music and other entertainment. It [...]

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We’ve been busy little bees up here in Portland Maine, with not a lot of extra energy to make our regular posts. This spring is a doozy, with Peter’s (as-yet-unnamed) store opening in May, moving our office, work with PDD on Downtown Portland’s Pedestrian Wayfinding program, a few design jobs, not to mention taxes, and [...]

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Port City Studios will now be found in our new store front. More details available soon…

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The Woonasquatucket River Fish Passage Restoration Project has completed the first of three fish ladders at the head of the Woonasquatucket River. This project calls for three fish ladders to be built at the first three dams on the Woonasquatucket River; Rising Sun Dam, Paragon Dam, and Atlantic Mills Dam.
A denil fish ladder and plunge [...]

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January 23rd, 5:30 to 7:30pm
Location TBD (check out the Buy Local website for updates)
Sarah Cushman of Portland Green Streets, Joe Walsh of Green Clean Maine, Forrest Keever of Green Tree Clothing, Chris McCabe of Maine Nonprofits Alliance, and Bob Fratto of Efficiency Maine will talk briefly about being green at work and in business.
We’ll also [...]

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