Let’s get right to it, shall we? “We are excited to spend the evening with our fellow local vendors/businesses and share some tricks of the trade,” says Harmons Grocer’s Jessica Bott. “It is always fun being with your peers.” Of course, we all know by now that Harmons is a locally owned and locally operated business. We love that about Harmons. But what many of our partners and friends don’t realize is that Harmons’ unwavering support of Local First Utah has made so much of what we do, from an organizational standpoint, possible.

There is so much that goes in to running a nonprofit, let alone one as fundamentally large as ours, yet so minimally staffed. Our tiny paid staff (of one and a half) and tiny volunteer staff (of one and a quarter) combine with the tireless efforts of our many event volunteers to make Local First stretch as far as possible, quantitatively, philosophically and geographically. We were so fortunate to get to visit parts of southern Utah earlier this year, and hope that we shall have the opportunity to physically visit many more communities in the near future. So much gratitude is owed Harmons (and our other on-going sponsors), we hope you’ll stop by their table, sample their offering, and thank them personally for being such a huge part of defining Local First Utah.

But as for Harmons themselves? Adds Bott, “We offer as many locally grown and produced items as we can in our stores. We love supporting local businesses.”

And if that’s not enough excitement for one year, “We are also excited about our Emigration Market Store that just opened on 1300 East and 1700 South and looking forward to City Creek Harmons opening Downtown February 2012.” 15 communities throughout the state of Utah are currently blessed by the presence of Harmons’ 15 current stores. Harmons and all of our state’s many excellent, locally owned smaller markets are among the best community places we have, emphasizing local products whenever possible to ensure the longevity of our local growers, producers, and manufacturers.

Rounding out our list of very generous and incredible sponsors is the Platinum-Level Sponsor The Blended Table and our Gold-Level Sponsors in Rico Brand, Gastronomy, Inc., and Happy Day Gourmet.

In addition to visiting their website, more about the beautiful team of passionate caterers at The Blended Table can be read here, from this summer’s issue of edible Wasatch. Happy Day Gourmet may well have a little something special in store for you in that secret SanSegal surprise alluded to in an earlier post, while our appreciation for Rico Brand, whose founder Jorge Fierro generously provided the space for our previous fundraisers, until we simply outgrew the space! Fierro’s Frida Bistro, incidentally, will also be returning this year, as will seventeen other enticing purveyors of the state’s finest culinary delights, perfectly presented especially for our event. I’d list and hyperlink them all here, but that work is already done here, the page where your eager questions, “How do I get involved?” is in fact answered. So go here (here: http://www.localfirst.org/act-local/annual-fundraiser), and see exactly how to help support this once-nebulous thing we so lovingly call, “the bounty,” and in turn can’t seem to stop celebrating.

Finally, the images accompanying this series are taken from inside the spectacular Salt Lake Hardware Building at 105 North, 400 West, a mere block from the Arena TRAX stop and where there is plenty of free parking. Also, I will be there with my father’s camera taking photographic representations of the whole shebang, because that’s something else that I sometimes do.

Meantime, we look forward to seeing you at the big show! Oh, and, just one more thing: Remember, tickets in advance are cheaper than at the door so, well, that’s something to note.

Series and Photos Prepared by Andrew Dash Gillman