Café Campesino held its first "official" World Fair Trade Day Celebration here in Americus on May 13th and, from start to finish, it was a most excellent experience... thanks to the support of our community and the hard work of the Café Campesino team. We are particularly grateful to our friend and Mayor, Barry Blount, who joined us at Rylander Park on Saturday morning to proclaim "May 13, 2006, World Fair Trade Day in the City of Americus, a day of support for a global economic system which is based in Fair Trade and socially responsible investment."

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by Bren Dubay, Director, Koinonia Farm

Koinonia and Café Campesino are good neighbors and friends. I thank the folks at Café Campesino for giving me this opportunity to shine a spotlight on our farm. We are located seven miles in one direction from Jimmy Carter's hometown of Plains and seven miles in the other direction from Bill, Lee, Tripp and all the good people at Café Campesino in Americus.

Koinonia is a Greek word meaning "community" or "fellowship." The word is oft repeated in the Christian scripture in reference to the fledgling church. What is the connection between the definition of the word and Café Campesino's neighbor bearing the same name?

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On Saturday, May 19th, our friends Sheila Crowley and Treva Wetherell packed up Treva's little Honda and headed north, taking Three Frontiers Trading Company on its first road trip to the newly formed Western Market in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC. The market is now open every Saturday from 12-5 and offers an ideal setting for aspiring artists and Fair Traders to ply their wares. Sheila reports that the market's setting in such a vibrant neighborhood made it the perfect place for a successful "Fair Trade Day" with lots of people stopping by to try Café Campesino coffee and buy unique fair trade gifts for friends and family. Look for Sheila and friends on Saturday, July 15th, for a repeat performance at the Western Market's night festival.

BRAG 2006 - The stars have aligned once again for the annual Bike Ride Across Georgia (BRAG) and Geoffrey has been busy preparing in earnest for this Café Campesino summer ritual. BRAG 2006 will run from Dalton to Augusta from June 10-17th, passing through Cartersville, Jasper, Gainesville, Commerce and Washington. BRAG 2006 riders and their supporters will be happy to know that if they miss Geoffrey and crew on site, they can always stop in and visit our friends at the Mayflower Coffee Company in Washington, GA. Located in the heart of Washington at 16 East Robert Toombs Avenue, the Mayflower Coffee Company serves up Café Campesino daily in a truly beautiful, traditional coffee house setting... to read more about the Mayflower Coffee Company, click here.

Geoffrey will be joined by Scott Armstrong (long-standing BRAG rider, singer/songwriter and friend of Café Campesino) and crew to serve up all the Café Campesino coffee, iced mochas and other sundry items this year's riders can chug and munch down. And, as usual, Café Campesino will be offering "All You Can Drink in a Morning" wrist bracelets, providing unlimited access to coffee as well as a choice of two snacks including muffins, bagels, fruit and other goodies (choice varies depending on local supply) every morning at camp until the last bicycle has pulled out. The bracelets are available and can be purchased at www.brag.org or on site at the Café Campesino booth in Dalton for $25 each.

Café Campesino is a proud sponsor of the 50th Anniversary Consumer Cooperative Management Association Conference. Hosted by our friends at Sevananda Natural Foods Market, this year's conference will draw over 400 people from the United States, Canada and the UK to the GA Tech Conference Center in Atlanta from June 8-11. CCMA is committed to nation-wide education, support and sharing of knowledge between food coops. Café Campesino will be served at the conference's Saturday evening social event "Partay Atlanta Style!" as well as in the conference's hospitality suite during the conference.

On June 14th, Tripp will head down to Cairo, Georgia (pronounced "kayrow" in our fine state) where he will address the Cairo Rotary Club and introduce them to Fair Trade and Café Campesino's work as Georgia's first and only 100% Fair Trade, organic coffee roaster.

June winds up with two stellar events...

What do Café Campesino, Fair Trade and Georgia's rivers have in common? Paddle Georgia! From June 24th through the 30th, Geoffrey will once again be serving up Café Campesino and talking Fair Trade with our friends at the 2006 Paddle Georgia. This year's sold-out week-long, 120-mile canoe/kayak adventure on the Etowah and Coosa rivers will flow from Dawsonville to Rome. Daily paddle trips will average 17 miles and in addition to nightly camping with meals, games, entertainment and educational programs, tours of industrial facilities and historic sites, scientific research including chemical and biological water monitoring, Paddle Georgia offers paddling enthusiasts a unique opportunity to gather for companionship and camaraderie with each other. Paddle Georgia also serves as a fundraiser for Georgia River Network and Coosa River Basin Initiative (Upper Coosa Riverkeeper). For more information, visit the Paddle Georgia website at www.paddlegeorgia.org.

Finally, we're thrilled to report that our long-time friend and loyal advocate Stacey Johnson will be traveling down to Americus at the end of June to learn the Café Campesino ropes so that she can help Tripp and Kristy with their sales and marketing efforts. Stacey will be based near Athens, where we first met her as the manager of Café Campesino customers Phoenix Market and Apoteca. Stayed tuned for more info about Stacey, who will add an abundance of energy and good vibes as well as solid experience in the world of natural foods to Café Campesino!

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"Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

— Howard Thurman, American theologian, clergyman and activist (1900-1981)

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• May 2006 What Fair Trade Is All About, By Tripp Pomeroy, Ten Ways to Celebrate World Fair Trade Day
• April 2006 Bill's Spring Break Travels Part I by Bill Harris, Call to Action: World Fair Trade Day
• March 2006 Café Campesino Teams Up with Guayakí, On The Road With CRS in Nicaragua by Michael Sheridan, Call to Action: Global Exchange Reality Tours
• February 2006 True Love is Café Campesino, Café Campesino Honored at GA Sustainable Business Day, Call to Action: Bioneers
• December 2005 Celebrating a Great Fair Trade Year, Fair Trade Partner: Café Conciencia, Fair Trade Partner: No Sweat Apparel
• November 2005 Gearing Up For the Holiday Season, Café Campesino Community Caravan, Show Your Café Campesino Pride and Win!, Return of the Monarch Butterfly
• October 2005 Hurricane Stan Ravages Our Guatemalan Friends, Report From the Fair Trade Futures Conference, Customer Spotlight: Sobornost for the World Foundation's World Village Fair Trade Market, Fair Trade Partner: Maya Tech Learning Centers
• September 2005 Cooperative Coffees and Producers Meet in Guatamala by Tripp Pomeroy, Café Campesino's General ManagerSupport OXFAM - Support Fair Trade, Customer Spotlight: Rainbow Natural Grocery, Fair Trade Partner: A Different Approach
• August 2005 Producer Profile: Fondo Paez, Customer Spotlight: Apoteca, Fair Trade Partner: Pachamama, A World of Artisans
• July 2005 Harrar Joins Our Coffee Lineup, Producer Profile: Ethiopia's OCFCU, Fair Trade on the Home Front
• June 2005 Sumatra Update: June 2005 provided by Thomas Fricke, ForesTrade, National Fair Trade Conference, Fair Trade Partner: Three Frontiers Trading Co.
• May 2005 Producer Profile: ACMPASA Santa Anita, Top 10 Ways to Support Fair Trade, Customer Spotlight: Crimson Moon Café, Fair Trade Partner: Fair Trade Resource Network
• April 2005 An Eye-Opening Trip to Guatemala by Bill Harris, Catholic Relief Services Fair Trade Coffee Program, Manna Grocery and Deli, La Esmeralda Stove Project
• March 2005 Insights From Our Guatemala Producer Partners by Tripp Pomeroy, Take Us To Your Coffeehouse!, Customer Spotlight: The Sentient Bean, Fair Trade Partner: Mexico Solidarity Network
• February 2005 Meeting Our Guatemala Partners Face to Face, Producer Profile: APECAFORM, Customer Spotlight: Mayflower Coffee Company, Fair Trade Partner: CoffeeTradeJustice.com
• January 2005 Tragedy's Wake: Update From Sumatra, Producer Profile: PPKGO Cooperative
• December 2004 Mexico: Notes From the Field, Customer Spotlight: Ten Thousand Villages, Fair Trade Partner: Cloudforest Initiatives
• November 2004 Conscious Consumption: A Personal Perspective, Customer Spotlight: Oyamel - Cocina Mexicana, Fair Trade Partner: Three Frontiers Trading Co.
• October 2004 A Mission...Not a Market: The 2004 Vote: Making it Work
• September 2004 Producer News: CECOCAFEN in the Off Season, Customer Spotlight: The Healthy Gourmet
• August 2004 Producer Profile: Cooperativa Café Timor, Fair Trade Friends: Marketplace of India
• July 2004 A Fair Trade Reality Check, Fair Trade Friends: Tribal Fiber, Coffee Lab International
• June 2004 The Promise of Fair Trade, Fair Trade Friend: Global Crafts
• May 2004 Fair Trade at the Carter Center, SCAA meeting.
• April 2004 Coffee and Community in Nicaragua, Fair Trade in Americus Makes the News!
• March 2004 Fair Trade chocolate, Rosetta's Kitchen
• February 2004 Bill's Return to Guatemala, Guayakí Rainforest
• January 2004 Espresso - What's the Buzz?
• December 2003 Fair Trade: Global Exchange's Fair Trade Challenge; Fellow Fair Traders: SERRV International
• November 2003 Fair Trade: More Than Just a Fair Price; Fellow Fair Traders: Lucuma Designs
• October 2003 Exploring the Coffee Regions
• September 2003 Cooperative Coffees Annual Meeting
• August 2003 Fair Trade Friends: Oxfam America; The Art (and Science) of Roasting Coffee
• July 2003 Exploring Our Origins: Sumatra
• June 2003 Exploring Our Origins: Guatemala; Gayo Mountain Adventure; Dr. Coffee - Cupping
• May 2003 Fair Trade Friends: United Students for Fair Trade; World Fair Trade Day
• April 2003 Exploring Our Origins: Ethiopia; Celebrating Earth Day with Fair Trade
• March 2003 Bill's Central American Adventures, Part 2; SWP Decaffeination
• February 2002 Bill's Central American Adventures, Part 1
• January 2003 My Life as a Bean
• December 2002 Exploring Our Origins: East Timor; Sustainable Development
• November 2002 New Website; Gift Baskets
• October 2002 Interview with roaster Lee Harris
• September 2002 ForesTrade Wins UN Sustainability Award; Exploring Our Origins: Sumatra's Gayo Cooperative
• August 2002 Producer News: Shade Grown; Fair Trade Friends: Atlanta Audubon
• July 2002 Exploring Our Origins: Colombia
• June 2002 Back Roads Journal: Cooperative Coffees and Café Campesino; Exploring Our Origins: Peru; Fair Trade Friends: Music of the Andes
• May 2002 Staff Notes: Cinco de Mayo; Producer News: Visit to Mut Viz; Back Roads Journal: SCAA Meeting
• April 2002 Back Roads Journal: Travels in Fair Trade; Customer Composting Tip