Londonderry News

Cabot Creamery Cooperative is thrilled to announce the 2012 Community Tour to celebrate those who give their hearts, time and skills to strengthen communities. The Tour will kick off on May 12th in Miami, Florida, and continue 2,300 miles up the East Coast, culminating in Portland, Maine, on July 7th, the International Day of Cooperatives. Eight major weekend stops will be held in key cities along the route and smaller weekday events will take place at stops in between.

“Since 1919, the 1,200 farm-family owners of Cabot Creamery Cooperative have been an integral part of the communities they serve,” says Roberta MacDonald, Cabot’s Senior Vice President of Marketing. “Our farmers labor from sunrise to sunset, yet they still find the time to volunteer, strengthening their local governments, organizations or charities. In honor of them, we want to recognize those who also give selflessly to their communities.”

Community and family events will be held and will vary by city but will incorporate overall themes of the tour: cooperatives, community service and volunteerism. Admission and activities at each major stop of the tour are free and open to the public. These include fun and games for families, guest speakers and entertainment, food and beverages, cooking and cheese-making demonstrations, health programs, live media broadcasts and other activities designed to bring families, friends and neighbors together to celebrate the spirit of community.

Major Tour Stop Schedule

• May 12 – ‘Kick Off’ Event at Bicentennial Park, Miami, FL
• May 26 – Marion Square, Piccolo Spoleto Children’s Festival, in Charleston, SC
• June 2 – American Tobacco Campus/Diamond View Park in Durham, NC
• June 9 – Old Mill Park in Fredericksburg, VA
• June 16 – Tubman-Garrett Riverfront Park in Wilmington, DE
• June 23 – Central Park in New York, NY
• July 1 – Roger Williams Park (Temple to Music) in Providence, RI
• July 7 – Payson Park Triangle, Baxter Blvd., in Portland, ME

Since the Tour route follows the path of the East Coast Greenway (ECG) – the traffic-free path linking cities from Florida to Maine – walkers and cyclists like Bob Spiegelmen of Londonderry, New Hampshire will participate in the tour. Spiegelmen began cycling in 2001 on family vacations with his wife and two children, logging about 1,000 miles that year. Since then, he’s steadily increased the miles he rides each year by riding nearly every day, weather dependent. Today he logs over 10,000 annually and has completed many one-week bicycling tours.

Spiegelmen is excited about bicycling the ECG this summer with the Cabot Community Tour. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” he says. He’s raised $7,000 for the ECG, surpassing his goal of raising $6,500 for the group. He’s an avid supporter of the ECG, which he thinks exemplifies the “Think Globally; Act Locally” adage. He also plans to complete the ECG as part of the Maine to Keys trip, bicycling one week a year for seven years.

A complete tour schedule can be found online here.

The 2012 Community Tour coincides with two other programs central to Cabot’s cooperative principles. In February, Cabot launched Reward Volunteers, a mobile and web app that encourages participants to log their volunteer activity and earn rewards for themselves and their volunteer organizations. The Grand Prize winners will be announced on July 7, 2012, at the culmination of the Community Tour. Click here for more information.

2012 has been declared The International Year of Cooperatives by the United Nations. Cabot created The Community Tour to bring awareness to the unique cooperative business principles of promoting volunteerism and supporting communities. Other sponsors of The 2012 Community Tour include: 2012 International Year of Cooperatives, AARP Create The Good, Credit Union National Association (CUNA), East Coast Greenway Alliance (ECGA), HandsOn Network, Marriott, National Cooperative Grocers Association (NCGA) and National Life Group.