Shoppers Crawl to Red Bank for Fair Trade Deals

Shoppers crawled to downtown Red Bank shops on Saturday for hot and cold beverages, food tastings, demonstrations and store discounts as part of the ninth annual World Fair Trade Day.

In Red Bank, the five-hour World Fair Trade Day event wasn't your typical crawl where patrons stumble from pub to pub and beer to beer. This  day was a global event  supported by political and cultural leaders from nations throughout the world with local events to promote fair trade.

The theme for the day was "Fair Trade Your Breakfast" and the event started at  11 a.m. at Ten Thousand Villages, 69 Broad St. where participants were given a map to the nine participating businesses.  

Shoppers also had a chance to enter and win raffle for a grand prize valued at $200 at each business.

"Red Bank is a fair trade town and what that means is that a certain percentage of businesses  needs to carry at least two fair trade products," Samantha Eittreim, a member of the Fair Trade Red Bank Committee said.

Eittreim said that the fair trade products have to be certified by either Fair Trade USA or the Fair Trade Federation.

Several participating business owners said there has to be more fair trade with other countries.

"I really believe in the practice of fair trade, and  have traveled the world, visiting Third World countries and have seen an imbalance in fair trade and I would like to do what I can to help," said Ellen D'Amore of Soapmarket, 12 Monmouth St.

Michael Yavorsky, owner of Red Ginger, 48 Broad St. said that Fair Trade Day in Red Bank puts into focus fair trade among nations throughout the world.

"We are excited to participate to raise awareness that Red Bank stores are at the forefront of supporting fair trade practices," Yavorsky said.

For No Ordinary  Joe's Cafe, 51 Broad St. fair trade is about improving the lives of the coffee farmer, mostly at coffee plantations in Africa or South America.

"Coffee itself is very labor intensive and not a lot of people understand the process involved in their cup of coffee," Heidi Chaya, a server at No Ordinary Joe's Cafe said.

She noted that No Ordinary Joe's participated because, "We want to ensure that coffee farmers get as much enjoyment and financial compensation as we do."

Chaya added that with "fair trade, equal exchanges and a fair wage for the coffee farmer, he or she can grow their crop and make a profit."

The other seven participating businesses included PS Poppeyseeds, 54 English Plaza; The Cheese Cave, 14 Monmouth St.; Yummy Yummy Good Stuff within Funk and Standard, 40 Broad St.; Good Karma Cafe, 17 East Front St. and Surf Taco, 35 Broad St.

The first World Fair Trade Day was celebrated on May 4, 2002 but it was developed from the European Worldshop Day that started in 1996. World Fair Trade Day is observed on the second Saturday of May each year.