Fair trade makes the lineup at 2nd Street Soundcheck
Here’s the latest blog post from our Summer Marketing Intern, Hannah Goetz!
Every hour of every day, you can count on Austin to have an event going on. I love living in this great city because the possibilities are endless. I especially loved 2nd Street Soundcheck because it combined food, music and shopping with a great cause. I think many Austinites would agree with me when I say that those are the best kinds of activities.
On Saturday, June 2, 2012, the Raven + Lily team ventured out to 2nd Street in the blistering Texas heat, to be joined by many other vendors with the same goals in mind: “think global, act local.”
The event “promoted social responsibility and encouraged hope.” Not only did we and the other fabulous vendors, such as Radiant Cosmetics, Krochet Kids, Nisolo Shoes, Threads for Thought and Casamance, promote our own causes, but we also came together to make sustainable family fun and to help benefit Comfort the Children International and Whole Planet Foundation. CTC International, Whole Planet Foundation, The Belmont, Kuai Studios and 2nd Street District all helped plan and put the festival together.
“I think the single-most unique quality of Soundcheck is the collaborative mindset,” said Ty Clark, co-founder of Kuai Studios. “CTC International uses the African saying ‘Ubuntu’ in [its] lingo; it stands for ‘I am because we are,’ the single-most unique quality we hope to achieve.”
Since 2nd Street Soundcheck was centered around great music, choosing which bands to perform in the event was a tough task for Clark, but choosing his favorite band was even tougher.
“When I sat down to come up with our lineup, I went through a ton of bands,” Clark said. “My first choice of course was looking for local, Texas bands that I personally love: Seryn and Cowboy & Indian.”
“After grabbing them to participate, we moved onto others that would fit the festival’s vibe, and we reached out to Ponderosa, Alpha Rev, Polica and Rogue Wave,” Clark said. “Each of the bands jumped at the opportunity to be a part of something that was focused on giving back and investing in community, but I can’t really highlight anyone, other than maybe my friends in Seryn!”
Even though it was hard for me to choose my favorite band as well, I will always remember and pick Polica as my favorite! Their style and music were so distinct, especially from having a woman singer with killer vocals, and we were fortunate to have them perform on our block.
With the band rocking out in the background, we snapped some pictures of Austinites with their Raven + Lily gear. What could be better than wearing Raven + Lily jewelry, empowering women and listening to a woman’s beautiful vocals all at once?
It was our first year at 2nd Street Soundcheck, and we had such a blast! It was so fulfilling to see the community supporting the fair-trade companies like ours. One of the ways that nonprofit, sustainable, cause-related or fair trade companies are growing here in Austin is through promotional events like this one, and we are so grateful that these organizations allowed us to be a part of such an occasion!
“We have a lot of ideas for next year; we are tossing around the ideas of film (documentary shorts) and panels (giving organizations a voice to discuss sustainability, development, etc),” Clark added. “We cannot wait to share them, so stay tuned!”
Additionally, I had so much fun telling people more about Raven + Lily, walking around and learning about the different vendors and listening to awesome live music.
“We were absolutely blown away by the event,” Clark said. “We had big expectations, and they were all met and surpassed in many ways!”
For more pictures at events, follow us on Twitter or Instagram @ravenandlily.
~Hannah
