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Sponsored: Meet your local entrepreneurs, artists during the Facebook Live #BuyBasin Festival

CBT
By CBT
March 30th, 2021

Here’s your chance to get to know a lineup of 100 unique entrepreneurs and creators – from a nature-loving artist to an alternative “coffee roaster in Nelson and area during the #BuyBasin Festival – running through April 27. The online festival gives locals the chance to meet and interact with the entrepreneurs in your own backyard.

The Facebook Live festival, happening on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays all month long, will feature products and services being made in the Columbia Basin, without having to leave your couch or office chair.

When you tune in, you’ll meet a new person running a local business or service. In between the broadcasts, there will be musical performances from Columbia Basin-based performers, like Shred Kelly, the Fernie-based alt-rock-folk band Shred Kelly.

RSVP to the #BuyBasin Festival here.

Here are just three of the Nelson-area entrepreneurs and creators you’ll meet the week of March 30.

Tune in March 30 – Raven Roast, Slocan

Raven Roast of Slocan is a roaster of alternative coffee products, run by founder Brendan Murray-Nellis.  

Murray-Nellis’s business is all about helping people kick (well mostly) their coffee habit if they feel it’s interfering with their well-being. He roasts an interesting lineup of herbal “coffees,” ranging in flavours like licorice, mocha or chicory as well as specialty blends such as Yerba Mate.

Learn more about Raven Roast here. For a close up look at the company, be sure to tune in March 30 for their Facebook Live broadcast. 

Raven Roast of Slocan is a roaster of alternative coffee products, run by founder Brendan Murray-Nellis. 

Tune in March 31 – My Sunshine Dreams

Looking for the perfect tea or coffee mug or decorative item for your garden or home? Shannon Parnall is a Creston-based potter who blends here love of nature with her pottery talents. She creates one-of-a-kind custom works of art and then puts her own cool twist on it by imprinting leaves or flowers onto each piece – from the plants she grows in her own garden.   

Check out her Facebook pageto see her work. Don’t miss her Facebook Live broadcast on March 31.

Tune in April 2Bombshack Apparel

Alicia Gray knows a thing or two about raising kids, so it’s no wonder she got into the business of dressing and entertaining and engaging them. Her Rossland-based business, Bombshack Apparel is where all the cool kids (and parents) go to find new and used clothing for their tykes, tweens and teens.  Her shop carries brands from around the world, plus some locally made goodies as well. She sells tie-dyed hoodies, puff jackets for all seasons, rainboots, toques and denim and carries cool crafts, snacks and toys for the 16-and-younger set. She also sells arts and crafts made my local youth, in keeping with her “keep it local” philosophy.

Bombshack Apparel goes live on Facebook on April 2, but meanwhile, check out their Facebook page.

Join Shred Kelly, FestivalSeekers and other friends on Facebook through April 27 during the #BuyBasin Festival Live on Facebook.

Sage McBride, singer for Shred Kelly, has a dual role during the festival, providing some of the entertainment, but also coaching local businesses about creatively using social media to engage potential customers.

“Now more than ever it is incredibly important to keep small businesses in the Columbia Basin not only afloat but thriving,” says McBride. “I'm hoping that this shift to support local businesses during the pandemic will have a long-lasting effect of shifting the way people shop and encouraging them not to purchase from Amazon, but to support local companies whenever they can.”

McBride is also pulling together the festival’s entertainment linuep. “There is so much amazing talent in the Columbia Basin and I'm excited to curate a lineup with artists from all over the Basin.”

Alison Bjorkman, program manager for the Basin Business Advisors, a sponsor of the festival, is looking forward to giving people in the region the chance to learn who their enterprising neighbours are.

“Like any festival, it’s an enjoyable experience. (People) become aware of a business they didn’t know was there,” says Bjorkman. “It’s also a chance to remind people of what’s available in their business communities. It’s kind of like we can go virtually shopping.”

Preview the #BuyBasin Festival details on FestivalSeekers.

Rossland-based business, Bombshack Apparel is where all the cool kids (and parents) go to find new and used clothing for their tykes, tweens and teens. 

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