Hey there Midtowners, Downtowners, and Sactowners,

What is an adventure in ethical capitalism? What is ethical capitalism? Is it an oxymoron? How does it mesh with ideas like green building or eco-urban development? We’ll explore the fine lines over time, but we’d be interested in your thoughts as well to build a dialogue.
One principle of ethical capitalism is expressed each year at Dad’s BFD, Boil ‘N Fry Day, Make-A-Wish Foundation Fundraiser. It displays the trail of the win-win situation. We have coined the word “comple-tition,” complementary competition, to describe how we wish our small businesses to work with one another. We believe that small businesses, indeed businesses and residents, are neither independent nor dependent, but interdependent upon one another’s efforts. When we succeed, ideally we succeed mutually. We feel no threat from the restaurant down the street nor the boutique that on a simplistic level competes for the same dollar. Rather we see it as complementary competition in the sense of creating a critical mass that lowers the cost of doing small business.

Derivative of this sensibility is a comradery and collaboration. That’s what the BFD displays vividly. The BFD evokes its onw subculture for the afternoon and night and most people in attendance will never identify the seamlessness of the relationships taking place among the Green Sacramento and sacramento.downtowngrid.com booths, the Roller Derby Girls (Sacred City Derby Girls), even the musicians from regional and local outlaw country to Mick Martin and the Bluesrockers. A stage rises from the formless parking lot of the Builders Exchange next to Dad’s. LiteBrite Productions puts the stage together and creates its own shaded entertainment area. The prizes come from sacramento.downtowngrid.com though our other local businesses like Fleet Feet and Fleet Feet Women’s, who will have their Women’s Fitness Festival Downtown in Capitol Park on June 10.
The outdoor kitchen grows each year and its method of operation becomes wiser. It’s the 3rd Year, a critical mass point for nearly everything that reaches this juncture. Maturity is an interesting thing to note when you’ve watched something from the beginning, in this case one could say from the moment of conception.

All of it raises money for a cause in our backyard, a child from Sacramento, who deserves to Make A Wish. We don’t have the final tally but it will be more than last year.

Tonight will shine another example on collaboration at the California Museum of History, Womoen, and the Arts Downtown at the CRAVE Party for women only.