Last night we had an event at Birchrun Hills Farm where we had invited 16 very local, small businesses to bring their tables, tents, lights, and their wares to sell at the farm. To say the very least it was a magnificent evening!

The driveway of Birchrun Hills Farm was lined on both sides with these vendors and each of their tables was lit with battery operated lighting and was meticulously designed to look beautiful for visitors. Sue and her crew lit the pathway from the field parking area with luminaries and while we came to the realization that we need more light for next time, it still looked beautiful.

Down the center of the driveway were heaters all ablaze and fire pits where people huddled around to warm up during their walk up the lane toward Sue and her family’s farm market. The picnic tables were lit with lights overhead and Matt Snyder played his heart out on his guitar.

People were genuinely happy. This included smiles from all the vendors, and smiles from the visitors to the farm. There were strangers and friends of the farm and the vibe was indescribable.

When gifts are purchased from these small businesses, it’s not just money on the table for that family, it actually brings people back to us and the local business itself. Early last year I had a man approach me at Birchrun Hills Farm. He told me that while he had never been there before, a friend had given him a bottle of my wine for the Holidays. He loved the wine so much that he came back and brought his family. They stayed, had more wine, had cheese, listened to music and our little Cheesiest Happy Hour survived another week.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SUPPORTING US THIS YEAR! The Cheesiest Happy Hour is celebrating our 2 year Anniversary over the course of the next month. We will be sharing another Sip and Shop on December 13th from 4 - 8. We have live music that night with The Sin Brothers and maybe we should have a cake to celebrate!

Please continue to support small local businesses. The act of kindness spreads further than you can imagine.

Sharon