Community Spirit

Over the past couple of months, Brightside has welcomed several exciting community collaborations.

In conjunction with the Smithsonian's traveling exhibition, The Way We Worked, the Pocahontas County Convention & Visitors Bureau and Pocahontas County Historical Society approached us about providing a sampling of herbal teas that would have been used at the turn of the last century. We conducted our demonstration Herbal Tea Traditions: Tea as Food & Medicine at the Marlinton gazebo on two September afternoons and at the Opera House performance of The Hefner Family on October 15.

We were further honored to be commissioned by the Historical Society to create commemorative tea bag sets as gifts for thirty community volunteers who participated in The Way We Worked. Our Mountain Herbal Sampler included one tea bag each of blackberry leaf, heal all blossom and leaf, wild mint leaf, nettle leaf, strawberry leaf and yarrow blossom.

For the 150th Anniversary Civil War Celebration at Traveler's Repose, we created Allegheny Mountain Medley, a commemorative blend served at a traditional afternoon "tea" on October 8.

A selection of our six-tea bag sets (including barberry, bee balm, blackberry, chamomile, goldenrod, lemon balm, mullein, mint, nettle, raspberry, sassafras, strawberry and wintergreen) is now available at the Old Times Office Museum & Store at 810 Second Avenue in Marlinton. And we've recently ventured over the border into Highland County, Virginia, where our herbal tea blends are selling well at the delightful boutique, Artful Gifts at 127 West Main Street in Monterey.

Perhaps our most auspicious collaboration is with Plan B Broadway, a brand new community cafe located in Broadway, Virginia, just outside of Harrisonburg. Founders Lisa and George Neall, whom we met at the Highland County Maple Festival back in March, asked us to craft a signature Plan B Herbal Tea Blend, which has turned out to be a big hit in the cafe's opening month! In addition to our Plan B Blend, the cafe offers Cheer, Nourish and Sparkle My Spirit as iced teas, and spearmint, heal all, Simplify and Cheer by the hot cup or pot. Local food, great music, and a fantastic vibe. We are thrilled to be a part of it.

Brightside will host a "Tea-cademy" at Plan B on November 12. Details to follow in the next post.