TRAVERSE CITY, MICH. -- A food-focused, made-in-Michigan online gift guide is offering people the chance to find the perfect holiday present while also supporting local businesses.
The Michigan Local Gift Guide features products and services from more than two dozen businesses across the state, including drinks, sweets, spices, meats, cooking classes, farm shares, and items for the home. The guide also highlights regional nonprofits working in local food movements, for those who want to give back during the holidays.
The gift guide is produced annually by Taste the Local Difference, a Traverse City-based food marketing agency, as an extension of its mission to educate consumers about the value of local food, and to support local food and farming entrepreneurs.
Tricia Phelps, CEO of Taste the Local Difference, said that supporting local businesses can have even more influence this holiday season, in light of the pandemic.
“This year more than ever is a really important year to be spending our dollars, however limited they may be, on local products because it’s effectively keeping our local cultures alive,” she said. “There are a lot of businesses that are worried about staying in business in the next six months, and this is the time you can show your support, and show how much you value those businesses and that culture.”
The Michigan Local Gift Guide, online at michiganlocalgiftguide.com, aims to simplify making that connection between consumer and producer. Shoppers can find participating businesses in the guide’s alphabetized directory, or browse gift ideas via its categorized list. Each listing links directly to the online ordering process on the business’ website.
Some highlights in the guide include Ann Arbor Distilling Co.’s Fox River Whiskey, made entirely from locally grown grains; cookie gift boxes from Detroit’s Avalon International Breads; and instant coffee from Velodrome Coffee Company in Marquette.
There are non-food items as well, including tea towels from Grand Rapids’ Solstice Handmade; goat’s milk soap made by Land of Milk & Honey in Cedar; and ceramic tea mugs from Ann Arbor’s Arbor Teas.
And under the guide’s “Gifts from the Heart” category, shoppers can learn more about nonprofits like Hidden Harvest, a Saginaw-based organization working to alleviate hunger and reduce food waste in the Great Lakes Bay region, or Detroit Food Academy, which teaches cooking, nutrition and entrepreneurship classes to students in metro Detroit.
Phelps said the guide is not only a great way to get holiday gift ideas, it can also help people learn about what’s happening in the local food scene in other communities across Michigan.
“I love the energy around local food in general, and the entrepreneurial spirit of these people and the very cool products they come up with,” she said. “I love to hear about what’s going on in Detroit and Grand Rapids and the U.P. The local gift guide helps you see what’s going on in other parts of the state. As proud Michiganders, we like to support all those things.”
Find the full guide at michiganlocalgiftguide.com, and learn more about Taste the Local Difference at localdifference.org.
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