Category: Community

World Fare introduces the Fare The Well Box, a personally-curated box of fair trade and earth-friendly goodies!

Looking for a creative way to support your local community fair trade store? Need a pick-me-up delivered to a loved one’s door, or even your own door? Then select from a variety of sweet themes and we will fill your Fare Thee Well Box with beautiful, creative, and delicious items from World Fare.

Many of the economically-disadvantaged farmers and artisans World Fare supports are struggling to make ends meet as COVID-19 hits their communities and vendor orders decline. These boxes of bounty lift up our values of justice and solidarity by investing in the good work of our partner organizations as they continue to prioritize people and planet during this difficult time. Thank you for your partnership and friendship!

How it works:

• Review box sizes and themes to make your selection.
• Fill out the order form.
• A World Fare volunteer will confirm your order.
• You’ll receive a Square invoice by e-mail that you can pay online.
• We’ll pack and ship your order to the recipient.

Box themes 

Choose your budget with classic ($35-$40) or deluxe ($55-$60), and then choose your theme! We’ll pack your box with unique items based on your budget, theme, and any notes you include on the order form about your recipient’s preferences. Visit our web site for more information about these fun themes:

• Fashion Distraction
• Jolly Good Time
• My Cup Overfloweth
• Meditative Moments
• Sweet and Spice
• Pamper
• Nourish with Flourish
• Creature Comforts

Love chocolate? Love baking? Enter A Chocolate Affair!

February 9
2:00-4:00p.m.

Join us for our annual celebration of love and chocolate on February 9, from 2:00 to 4:00p.m.! We need all the bakers and chocolate maestros out there to enter their creations for the chocolate-loving public to enjoy and vote on. You can enter online now; just remember to purchase your fair trade chocolate from World Fare for your delicacy!

Then we need folks to come out to taste and vote! Voting for A Chocolate Affair will take place from 2:00-3:30 p.m. during the event. First place in People’s Choice, the top prize, will come with a $50 gift certificate for World Fare, and additional prizes will award second place, third place, Most Original and Best Presentation.

A Chocolate Affair is always a wonderfully tasty way to get ready for Valentine’s Day. Come on out!

Get your chocolate fix on Valentine’s Day!

Join us this Saturday, February 14, for our Annual Chocolate Affair bake off!  From 2:00 – 3:30 p.m., taste delicious treats from 10 local bakers for free; then vote for your favorites to win People’s Choice awards.  Voting tickets start at $1 each, with quantity discounts. All proceeds from voting go toward World Fare’s efforts to support economically disadvantaged farmers and artisans around the world.

And while you’re downtown, be sure to check out all of the WinterFest activities happening throughout downtown Three Rivers from noon – 4:00 p.m. Bring someone you love to celebrate Valentine’s Day in a PLACE you love!

We look forward to seeing you there!

Join us this Saturday for Small Business Saturday!

Join us this Saturday, November 29, during the annual Three Rivers Christmas Around Town celebration to also celebrate Small Business Saturday! Every year, after folks have gotten crazy deals on products on Black Friday, we like to encourage shoppers to get out on Saturday to support their local, small businesses in their communities. Not only will there be events for Christmas Around Town throughout downtown all day, but the first 15 customers in World Fare will receive a free canvas tote bag courtesy of American Express.

Join us for a great day of supporting local businesses in Three Rivers on Saturday!

Take some music home with you

Just in time for our 11th Anniversary Celebration and HarmonyFest, we’ve got a bunch of great, new music in stock. While you’re enjoying the tunes from the stage in downtown Three Rivers this weekend, stop by and grab some music to take home with you! We’ve got everything from blues to salsa, African beats to French cafe, lullabies to party music. You’re sure to find something you’ll love to hear over and over!

2014 Rivers of Justice Film Festival sparks good conversations

Every year, World Fare, along with a handful of loyal contributors, manage to put on a film festival in Three Rivers revolving around social justices issues affectionately dubbed, “Rivers of Justice.” This festival is held in beautiful downtown Three Rivers at the historic Riviera Theatre, and is both a fundraising event for World Fare and an attempt to spread the messages of social justice, community development, and fair trade to Three Rivers and beyond.

The first film, Bananaland, gave a shocking inside view into the banana industry. Dole, Chiquita, Del Monte, and a handful of other high profile banana growing corporations were put under the looking glass and exposed for their terrorist-supporting and extreme profit-minded business practices. We saw in this film the human side of the banana industry, how the pesticides present in such mass quantity can destroy the lives of those who are unfortunate enough to live near or around a banana plantation in South America.

Our second film, The House I Live In, centered on the problems caused by the War on Drugs: a war that has raged for decades and has seen virtually no success in slowing down the trafficking of drugs in and around the United States. This film is a harrowing look into the racial and socioeconomic overtones present in the lawmaking and judicial sides of our government.

The final film, If You Build It, ended on a hopeful note, following a group of high schools students and their unorthodox shop class teachers as they seek to construct a Farmer’s Market for their small town. This film showcases positive ways of engaging students who often balk at the traditional methods of education, and gives us insight into what can happen when a community comes together around an idea.

We’d once again like to thank everyone who contributed food to the potluck, donations to the festival costs, and especially to everyone who came out to watch these important films. We hope to see even more folks at next  year’s Rivers of Justice Film Festival!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas Around Town!

Three Rivers merchants and volunteers continue to work together to provide an array of fun, family-friendly activities to celebrate the holidays throughout your historic downtown.  Here’s what’s coming up…mark your calendar!  All two-day weekend activities take place 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Saturday and noon-4 p.m. on Sunday.

NOV. 29: TREE LIGHTING

Come together in the mural mall for hot cocoa, carols and the lighting of the lovely tree at 6:15 p.m.

NOV. 1-DEC. 29: CHRISTMAS AROUND TOWN

Join us on Thanksgiving weekend for cookie decorating, a holiday hunt, shopping, a visit from Santa and his reindeer…and more!

DEC. 7-8: IT’S BEGINNING TO LOOK & SOUND A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS!

Vote for your favorite downtown Christmas tree for a chance to win $50 in Downtown Dollars to be spent at participating businesses.

DEC. 13: THE HUSS PROJECT PRESENTS KENNEDY’S KITCHEN & THE CELTIC FIRE IRISH STEPDANCERS 

All proceeds from this delightful evening with Michiana’s favorite Irish band support the Huss Project’s efforts to build community in Three Rivers through food, art, play and friendship.  Click here for more info and online ticketing.  The show starts at 7:30 p.m. and the suggested donation is $15, with tickets ranging from $10-$100.

DEC. 14-15: IT’S BEGINNING TO TASTE & SMELL A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS!

Vote for your favorite cookie for a chance to win $50 in Downtown Dollars to be spent at participating businesses.  Collect recipes, too!

DEC. 21-22: IT’S BEGINNING TO FEEL A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS!

Last-minute shoppers can enter to win a basket of downtown goodies!

LAST CHANCE… 

Many downtown businesses will be open special hours on Dec. 23 and 24 and the Riviera Theatre will host a FREE Christmas movie on Dec. 23 at 7 p.m.!

DEC. 25: MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Remembering Ellen and Bruce

This past summer has been a time of great loss for the Three Rivers community, including World Fare.  Two active local visionaries passed away at relatively young ages, leaving the rest of us behind to continue the good work to which they were so dedicated.

Ellen Thompson served on the World Fare board of directors from 2009-2011, always bringing a sense of quiet hopefulness and wisdom to the board’s stewardship of the store’s mission.  Along with others, she encouraged the board to consider not just what World Fare could offer in partnership with economically disadvantaged communities abroad, but how we could individually and collectively work for justice and reconciliation in our own community.  She expressed her commitment especially through her involvement with ERAC/CE, an organization committed to helping people recognize and eliminate racism in themselves and in their communities.  Ellen could often be spotted around town, even after she became ill, sporting her beautiful, multi-color fair trade sweater from World Fare and a lovely smile.  The wide range of mourners at her memorial service attested to her compassion in the many roles she accepted — as leader, friend, sister, aunt, mentor.  Ellen passed away on June 13, 2013.

Bruce Snook, who served on the World Fare board from 2008-2011, passed away more recently on August 29 after a brief illness.  Going all the way back to 2003, Bruce was one of a handful of local leaders who encouraged the founding of World Fare in downtown Three Rivers.  After he retired from his position as the director of the Three Rivers Area Chamber of Commerce, Bruce carried his vision for a flourishing community into a new venture, an online publication called River Country Journal.  Influenced by movements that emphasize community strengths as a critical resource for positive change, Bruce was always quick to lift up the efforts of World Fare and other local organizations seeking to enhance life in the Three Rivers area through justice, creativity and compassionate commitment.  Many remember his gentle smile and soothing radio voice, which were just the outward reflections of a truly humble, hopeful, wise spirit.

We will greatly miss Ellen and Bruce as we go forward, knowing that our best tribute to their work will be to continue and grow the community they imagined: one in which all people have a voice and share a sense of purpose and belonging.