From De La Vaca's Desk: A Very Merry Local Holiday to You

Happy Holidays, Boulder County! You might have noticed all the recent snowfall and realized, as we did, that winter is here. And, with winter comes the Festivus season, a time of giving and receiving.

However you celebrate, there’s one thing I hope we can all agree on: shopping local is the best way to keep local dollars in the local economy and support our friends and neighbors. I just read that, in Tucson, almost 150K jobs were lost due to Amazon’s, from closure of local shops and a reduction in local warehousing. That’s just one city. Colorado is a top-five city for Amazon, a long-serving hub for corporate offices and distribution centers.

Here in Colorado, some applauded Amazon’s expansion. Mom and pop shops – and locals – who have served our communities for decades were instantly wary, as they should have been, as is reasonable, given the corporate behemoth’s proven track record of displacing local stores and swallowing whole economies. (Check out our list of local retailers.)

While we’re as big a fan as any of ordering online and getting things delivered to our door, especially in a pandemic, we’d be remiss in our duties if we didn’t point out that most of our local shops (including restaurants) offer online shopping, delivery, and curbside pickup. You can have your present and keep it local, too. We don’t need cheap goods made by slave wage employees in third world countries, shipped from overseas warehouses, with the sole goal of enriching one while Amazon’s employees continue to struggle. (Our Retailer’s Guide has a list of webstores, too.)

What does it all mean? It means we have an opportunity – in a world frozen with winter frost and frozen by a global pandemic – to support those people who have served us for generations, our own communities, and keep dollars in local pockets. Instead of buying Jeff Bezos, the Smaug dragon atop a heap of hoarded gold, another multimillion-dollar house or yacht, we can keep local families in their homes, local kids geared up for sports, local classrooms equipped, and local storefronts warmed with a soft light blinking “open, come in, we’re here for you, as we’ve always been”.

Speaking of being here for you, I hope you enjoyed our annual Locavore gift guide, 20 ways to give and receive this viral holiday season. And make sure to save some time for our local nonprofits. Kate Newburgh outlines a bunch that could use your love this season, on page 25. And as always, tell them Yellow Scene sent you.