Wheatsville Co-op Austin, TX

[Dan Gillotte <gm AT wheatsville.coop>]

Hello Wheatsville!

If you missed the Wheatsville 30th Birthday Bash on Sunday, you were one of the few, that's for sure! We had between 1 to 2 THOUSAND people come to our li'l party, which was amazing! Thanks to all who came out! I hope you had a good time. I know that the lines were long and some folks didn't get much of anything to eat and I'm sorry about that. Overall, though it seems like most people got to enjoy an amazing pile of delicious food, wonderful beverages and amazing music!  As i said at the party, next time we'll have to rent out the Erwin Center to fit you all! It really was amazing to see all of you, even if it was only in passing or out of the corner of my eye. Thanks for being so great!

A lot of work went into planning this event and making it a success. Thanks to all who helped... Hats off and thank you to Judith Craft! When Judith offered to head up the party, I knew that it would be a good one! Thanks Judith! Many staff people went (WAY) above and beyond the call of duty helping out at the party. Here is a big thanks to them in no particular order:
Dana, Laura, Bryan Butler, Season, Aldia, Niki, Jack, Maria, Jeff, Johnny, Bryan Lawhorn, Patti Lou (not currently staff, but still helped out a huge amount!), Greta, Andrea, Jefe , Virginia, Adam, Madeline, and Daniel (Wonko) Thanks also to Jeff Copas for assembling the awesome slideshow!

Many board members also worked a lot to help us:
Bob Kinney, Jane Kurzawa Cravey, Jimmy Robertson, Tony Picola, Daniel Miller, Marilyn Fowler and Johnny Livesay. Thanks a bunch!

Several members stepped up to help, too (I don't have all your names, though, so if I miss you, let me know!) Joan Denson, Teresa Perry, Suzanne Batchelor, and David Howland all helped us a bunch!

A lot of the food (and much of the cooking) was donated from friends at beloved local businesses such as:

Craig from Austin Spice was a superhero! He donated salsa and rubs and sauce for all the meat plus he cooked almost all of it for us in his amazing rig! We really appreciated the help! Kala of Kala’s Cuisine, Aster of Aster’s Ethiopian Food, Solar Falafel, Tom’s Tabooley, and P/2 Organics. Special shout-outs to Tom and Brigid of Tom's Tabooley and Tony and Suzanne of P/2 for all of their serving and prep help! Other food help came from Maine Root, White Mountain Foods, Mary Louise Butters Brownies, Bandera Beef, Buddy’s Natural Chicken, El Milagro, Dr. Kracker, Sass sisters and Martin Brothers, Ruta Maya, Nile Valley, Capitol Beverage, and Block distributing! Companies outside of Austin even pitched in; Toby's Family Foods donated tofu pate for appetizers and we got beverages donated from Teas' Teas, Pente Water, Reed's Ginger Brew and Yogi Tea!

Thanks also to all the great folks who donated to our silent auction and all you who bid!

So, once again thank you for coming to the Wheatsville party that was for the record books!

We've got some new items in the store:

Look for Local Goat Milk from Water Oak Farms in the dairy case.
In the cheese case, look for new fresh cheeses from local Quiver Farms.

Bryan our meat guy is carrying seafood from a company called Eco Fish. They are leaders in sustainable fishing and fisheries. Learn more about them at http://www.ecofish.com/about/mission.htm

Hope to see you in the store!
Dan
Wheatsville Co-op GM and e-mail guy!