Once again the Christmas shopping season has arrived. Shoppers are crowding malls and department stores in search of the perfect gift. However, those who are looking for a different shopping experience this holiday season need only to travel as far as the Pres House, 731 State St., Saturday for the Fair Trade Holiday Festival.
The festival will offer consumers a chance to purchase gifts with the assurance that they were created under fair labor practices. Another goal of the holiday festival is to offer consumers a fair price by eliminating middle players, according to Kristin Hoffschmidt, a member of the coordinating committee for the festival. Attendees of the festival can look forward to such items as Nicaraguan pottery, jewelry, textiles and many other items from around the world.
\I think that the Holiday Fair is a much better environment than the mall,"" said Carol Bracewell, a community member volunteer for the festival.
The festival will also offer shoppers a chance to learn more about fair trade while they shop. Each vendor will have a table tent explaining how they promote fair trade. Informative publications will also be available.
""Our main goal is to educate people about fair trade and to have a venue where fair trade items are available for purchase,"" Hoffschmidt said.
This is the fifth year that the festival will occur. Five years ago a coalition was formed for labor rights and fair trade when many issues about the cruelties of sweatshops were being brought to the attention of the public. Coalition members wanted to offer the community other options for Christmas shopping and the festival has been fulfilling this goal since its beginnings.
This year, Community Action on Latin America is sponsoring the event. CALA is a registered student organization and is also open to members of the community.
One of the main principles of fair trade is to establish a direct relationship between producers and consumers. By doing this, middle players, who would normally take a large cut of the profit, are eliminated, allowing a fair price to be offered to consumers, Hoffschmidt said. In the case of international trade, fair trade seeks to provide improved trading conditions for disadvantaged producers. This will in turn improve the lives of producers involved in fair trade practices. Another aspect of fair trade is to institute practices that will help to preserve the environment and cultural arts.
The festival is one of the events in a campaign sponsored by the Wisconsin Coordinating Council on Nicaragua, 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence.
""Economic violence really affects women and children around the globe,"" Hoffschmidt said of the festival's role in the campaign. ""Unfair trade promotes violence against women.""
The festival will be in the Pres House from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. More information on this event is available by calling 286-0865. To learn more about 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, visit the Web site, http://wccnica.org/ and click on the link at the top of the page. More information about fair trade is available at http://fairtradefederation.com/, http://ifat.org/ and http://fairtraderesource.org/.
