When I was hired at the Co-op in March of 2020, I was excited to help with the planning and logistics of Co-op events. But about 3 days later, the world shut down and my task of scheduling events quickly shifted to cancelling all of them. It started with events scheduled in March, and then April. Before we knew it, our workshop space was filled with piles of back-stocked toilet paper and a conference table adorned with a mosaic of colorful fabric face masks.

Fast forward: It’s April 2022 and with nervous butterflies and a dash of giddiness, I packed up my car with fresh fruit and drove over to the YMCA for Healthy Kids Day. We were finally diving into our first outreach event in over two years. Not only had I never had the opportunity to represent the Co-op in person, I hadn’t had the chance to connect with our Skagit Valley community.

Seeing tiny hands reach for a giant fair-trade banana was a delight! Hearing folks speak such positive things about our Co-op filled me with pride. And getting the opportunity to be the person who represents a place so many adore was a treat. While the social engagement inevitably led to a long nap, I walked away from that event with more appreciation for something so simple, but that I missed so deeply: community.

In early May, a few of us from marketing and produce had the opportunity to visit Ralph’s Greenhouse, Living Rain Farm, and Hedlin Family Farms. Aside from being a fun field trip filled with petting baby goats and eating fresh spinach straight from the field, I felt immense gratitude to be bouncing around in a retired school bus filled with seven of my coworkers. Hearing our produce team chat with farmers about crop rotation and soil quality and all the ways to enjoy leek scapes brought me back to why I love the Co-op: community.

In late May, Co-opers gathered to celebrate our achievements and hard work at Christianson’s Nursery Vinery Building for our first staff party since I started. Over pizza and tacos, we shared stories we’d gathered throughout the many seasons of change we’d experienced since 2020. We brought family members and friends into the Co-op fold through a game of cornhole. And many of us simply reflected, thinking about how nice it was to be able to connect with one another outside of the world of stocking shelves, serving hot food, and bagging groceries.

If you’ve ever worked at the Co-op, you know just how memorable these Co-op parties are. There’s something special about seeing your coworkers in person, outside of the context of our big brick Co-op building, dancing, laughing, and frolicking through the grass with big grins on their faces. And after working at the Co-op for two years, a number of us finally got to experience what we’d been missing throughout the course of the pandemic: community.

By now, you’ve surely sensed a trend in this article: throughout the tumultuous course of the last two years, I’ve deeply missed feeling a sense of community. Don’t get me wrong, we all worked with what we had to keep our Co-op community connected. We hosted Community Conversations on Zoom. We engaged with our members and community through social media, email, and the Natural Enquirer. We hosted staff lunches and ice cream parties. And above all, we did our best to smile with our eyes while the rest of our face was covered with a mask.

Community is a simple word, but it has a cornucopia of meanings, especially when you haven’t had an in-person connection in what feels like a lifetime. Community is a farmer sharing a story about his rhubarb crop that he’s been dutifully caring for since 2005. It’s the joy of handing a Washington-grown Fuji apple to a future Co-op member. It’s chatting with your coworkers about life in the Valley over a slice of pizza in a retired barn. Community is whatever YOU make it.

So, as we move into the summer I hope you get the chance to feel that return of connection. Plan a picnic in the park. Meet up with friends for a lunch of Co-op sandwiches and ice cream. Attend that concert that’s been rescheduled three times.

Enjoy a weekend unplugged reconnecting with family members you haven’t seen in a couple of years. Or, take a trip to the beach with that one special someone. No matter how big or small your community is, having the opportunity to connect with one another again is something I don’t think any of us will ever take for granted again.

The Return of Connection