Sign to have Elevate Kombucha vend at Symbiosis

Hey everyone Please sign to get local Kombucha company Elevate to vend at Symbiosis. Read below posted by small business owner and pillar in our community Natalie Luminous.


PLEASE READ, PLEASE SHARE, PLEASE CARE

I’m typically a fairly private person, but something happened to me recently, which I cannot keep quite about. Some of you are already aware or have heard a glimpse of the story, but I want to share publicly exactly what myself, my partner and our business are going through.

Corey and I are the proud owners of Elevate Kombucha based out of Eugene, OR. We are a small company providing organic kombucha on tap in Eugene and at west coast music and art festivals. He and I are the only employees and we work extremely hard. All Elevate profits go directly toward growing the business so we each have to work second jobs to pay our bills. We love each other and our business and want nothing more than to grow and become successful enough to give back to the local community.

We applied to vend at Oregon Eclipse Gathering, a once in a lifetime event happening in our own state. This event is expecting 60,000 attendees and extends for an entire week. By far the grandest event we had ever applied for. Much to our surprise and excitement, we received our acceptance letter! We paid our booth deposit to reserve our space, upgraded our insurance package and spent thousands of dollars in equipment and materials in preparation to increase our production capacity and ensure maximum profits. Finally, a chance for us to see enough net profit to break ground on our own brewery and take our business to the next level. An honor and a dream come true.

Aside from the money we spent in preparation for Oregon Eclipse, we also turned down vending opportunities at three smaller festivals because we would not have been able to brew enough product to accommodate any other events.

On July 5th, we received a devastating email informing us that Health-Ade Kombucha based out of southern California had offered Oregon Eclipse a sponsorship package that was contingent upon them being the only kombucha brand at this massive event. Symbiotic Experiences Inc, the same people that agreed to allow us a booth space, accepted this sponsorship package and were now kicking us out!

Not only was this decision morally and ethically wrong on Health-Ade and Oregon Eclipse’s behalf, it also greatly jeopardizes the livelihood of our business. We spoke with an attorney who assured us we had a binding contract with the event and thus this decision was also unlawful. A greedy decision based solely on the opportunity for Oregon Eclipse to make more money.

So what's the moral of this story? Corporate greed does not belong at our festivals! I have been attending music festivals for over 15 years and have attended more than I can keep track of. For me, these events have become a part of my culture, they’ve shaped me into the strong and free spirited woman I am today. A major reason why myself and many others attend these festivals is to escape the mainstream commercialism and corporate profiteering that is engulfing our country. We attend to experience new and exciting things and feel the love and support from a community of like minded people. I’m asking you now, as my friend, my family, my ally, to please share this post. Encourage those you know to share this post. The more people who are aware that this is happening, the more we can take measures to stop this corporatocracy from invading our scene. Festivals should be a place for small craft business to share the fruits of their labor with the world because they have no other outlet. Not for large national brands like Pabst, Health-Ade, and Peet’s Coffee to monopolize and push them out.

Thank you for reading and for sharing. We greatly appreciate your support. #LetsElevate