Supporting local business--the exploration continues

We did a little exploring over the weekend in our continuing quest to discover the "local" community. The Chautauqua Ave. merchants in the village of Lakewood held their "Christmas in the Village" holiday open house event. It was the perfect opportunity to check them out.  We've had lunch at Hungry Hannah's a couple of times, since we prefer the little moms and pops to chain restaurants, but we really don't do a lot of shopping.

So it was very pleasant to discover Off the Beaten Path, the indie bookstore owned and operated by Holly Richardson at 28 Chautauqua. We've seen most of our favorite little bookstores fold, as giants like Borders, Barnes and Noble, and especially Amazon.com have taken over the market. We're really, really fans of the local library.  But knowing that there is this welcoming space with a friendly and knowledgeable owner who has the most interesting selection of books makes me feel inclined to visit again. There are author events, and now, there is coffee next door (in the same building), as local  RydersCup Coffee has relocated from their former store on Fairmount.

I now feel obligated to also give a shout out to the Labyrinth (their website seems to be under sonstruction but they have a Facebook page here) at 12 E.4th Street in Jamestown, which was an instant favorite the first time we visited.  This place has a gritty urban funk vibe in the sense of the old coffeehouses where people hung out and listened to live music. In fact, Labyrinth does host bands and poetry and movie nights, but Tom and I really aren't night people. We go there because the coffee and soup are the best in town.

Back to Lakewood. A small craft fair in the community center building  had an impressive array of refreshments and offered free photos with Santa. We had our first taste of locally made (for almost 80 years) Peterson's Candies and it was good. And I met a very talented jewelry designer who is also a neighbor. Susan Hedberg  operates An Added Touch, and makes her own ceramic pieces for use in some of her designs,which she sells online at Etsy and at local art/craft venues. You can see some of her work on FlickR.

We drove by George Gustafson's place at 2505-07 Quaint Rd. in Falconer on our weekly trips to pick up our CSA shares over the summer. George has been producing pure maple syrup for more than 30 years and offers a whole range of maple products in addition to his "Chautauqua Gold" at several locations in the area.

Good discoveries. And of course we were already fans of Southern Tier.