There aren’t too many chances these days to have a say in where you buy your food in West Philly. Actually, there may be only one chance. Mariposa Food Co-op launched a new membership campaign today that will provide that chance.
Mariposa will move to a new building next fall that increases its size five-fold, making it the only community-owned grocery store in West Philly. We’re talking fresh produce, fresh fruit and staples we all need – all on Baltimore Avenue near 49th Street. West Philly needs to step up ownership – that means becoming a member. Just to be clear, folks who aren’t members can shop at the new store too. But membership, as they say, has its priveleges. Here they are:
• Members get a discount and members who chip in to help run the store get an even bigger discount.
• As a member you get a voice in how things are run.
• Finally, and maybe most importantly, becoming a member means that you are helping to create a business that we all have a stake in.
Peter Collopy, a Mariposa member explains: “Membership in Mariposa is about more than getting a discount,” said Collopy. “It’s an opportunity to share ownership of an important resource for our community.”
Writer Ann L. Rappoport has discovered and written about a well-kept secret in West Philly: The bathrooms at The Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College (4207 Walnut St.). They are pretty magnificent.
Entering it through the bar in the school’s international restaurant, I was greeted by hundreds of antique perfume bottles. Vintage ladies’ hats and beaded bags commanded notice, posed on vintage hat racks suspended from the walls and ceiling, which also host over-the-top sconces and chandeliers. Lace and feathered boas drape the stalls, recalling at least the French Quarter of the Big Easy, if not Paris itself. Somebody had a blast putting this together.
College president Danny Liberatoscioli had the initial idea to make awesome bathrooms to compliment the school’s restaurants.
“We’ve got this thing for restrooms here,” he told Rappoport.
We were honored to be featured along with Milk and Honey Market‘s Annie Baum-Stein earlier this week on Madame Fromage, a top-shelf Philly cheese blog.
The good Madame is featuring blue cheese all this month and when asked where one might find a nice hunk of blue we first thought of Milk and Honey at 45th and Baltimore. As Madame Fromage mentions in the post, we sometimes like to pair blue cheese (and a variety of pickled things and black bread) with some icy cold vodka.
You might see Madame Fromage, who also goes by Tenaya, on any given day or night at any number of local cheese venues. She also writes a regular cheese column for Grid.
Mariposa Food Co-op has a new tool in its quest to raise money for its move to a new (and much larger) building in the fall. The co-op has opened an account on the fundraising site IndieGoGo.com, where individuals can securely contribute any amount.
The co-op hopes to raise $10,000 toward its move costs on the site, which will be bundled together with other fundraising ventures – from member and institutional loans to brunches – to cover the estimated $2.2 million purchase and rehab of the new building at 4824 Baltimore Ave.
As promised, here is part 2 of filmmaker Clay Hereth’s documentary about The Mill Creek Farm, a neighborhood farm at 49th and Brown in West Philadelphia. See yesterday’s story for the full intro to the film and Mill Creek Farm’s work.
There aren’t too many chances these days to have a say in where you buy your food in West Philly. Actually, there may be only one chance. Mariposa Food Co-op launched a new membership campaign today that will provide that chance.
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