I have never been to Indiana. I noticed this week that the national weather stations never even have a town from Indiana on its maps. I’ll have to weatherquest before I plug in the destination on my GPS. Nevertheless, rain or shine, snow or ice, I will be attending the Up & coming: Up & Running Food Co-op Conference next weekend in Bloomington, Indiana.

This two-day gathering offers workshops from nationally recognized consultants and experts concerning  the development of new food co-ops, from the very first work of community building, to financing, to designing the store, to implementing systems, and finally opening the doors. There are so many workshop options — co-op finance, case studies in recent successful start-ups, capitalization, member recruitment, member owner loan campaigns, branding, and many more. My mind is already buzzing with excitement about the possibilities. Networking opportunities at the conference abound and, for the workshops I cannot attend, I hope to meet the presenters and leaders of co-ops in our own region after hours.

I’ll post again after the conference to share the excitement and the learning.

-Kat