Be wary of supermarkets' local foods claims

[NB as far as I know, Wegman's is still a Monroe County, NY local independently owned supermarket chain that sets the standard for grocery stores. Maybe they are doing some localwashing when it comes to their produce, but I don't know. But I refuse to categorize them with Safeway.]

Sorry, Safeway. Tough break, Wegmans.

Unfortunately for you, the jig is up—we know you're not giving us local food.

Yes, recently shoppers have been holding supermarkets' "locally grown" claims up to the light, and finding them full of holes.

Buying local has become more and more appealing lately. Shoppers like the idea of shrinking their carbon footprint and supporting the local economy. Plus many have caught on to the secret that produce from small farmers in their immediate area simply tastes better. So big grocery stores have jumped on the trend.

This is where the problem begins, found Laura Vozzella in a recent story in the Baltimore Sun. In area grocery chains, Vozzella found multiple instances of signs advertising local produce above fruits and vegetables that actually traveled thousands of miles.

Lest you think the phenomenon is confined to the East Coast, the Ventura County Star in Southern California ran an opinion piece on the very same topic. The author of this commentary found his grocery store manager harbored a very different notion of what constitutes local foods (coming from somewhere within the USA) than the average consumer (who thinks more in the 100- to 200-mile range of the point of sale).

The big problem, it seems, is that when it comes to local fruits and vegetables, the economy of size breaks down. One large outlet in a big city cannot keep locally-grown produce in stock, mostly because the nearby farms have small operations. Multiple farmers markets, on the other hand, can meet the demands. Case in point: the clientele of the Dupont Circle market has grown faster than a zucchini in August over recent years, yet by the closing bell, the vendors have produce to spare.

Another factor is the vast geographical range of big stores. They end up on the same marketing cycle across the country while growing seasons roll through on very different schedules.

So what's a consumer looking for the benefits of local produce to do?

My answer, albeit a bit predictable, is to hightail it to the nearest farmers market. There, you can be sure your produce, dairy, eggs, and meat were culled from the local area—or if you're not sure, you can ask and get an honest answer. Most markets in the D.C. area only allow vendors from farms within a certain radius.

If you need to grab all of your groceries in one place, and that place is a large grocery store, you may still be able to get truly local food. Just do a little investigation before you buy. Checking PLU stickers is a good way to go if you want to determine if your produce is local (hint: if the individual fruits or veggies have stickers to begin with, they're probably not). And yes, you can always ask the store manager (just be sure you're on the same page about the definition of "local").

If you truly want local, though, put your money on a farmers market.

link to article

PROJECT LEAN: Maximize nutrition by using local food | Eat Local in Humboldt County

Joyce Houston/For the Times-Standard

Posted: 07/22/2009 01:30:23 AM PDT

What does "buy local" mean when talking about vegetables and fruits? It may mean different things at different times of the year. At this time of the year, when we can celebrate a wonderful variety of Humboldt County produce, buy local means growing food at home or focusing on choosing vegetables and fruits that are grown in our immediate communities.

At other times of the year, we may stretch the definition to cover first California, then region, and finally, country. When you use vegetables and fruits grown and harvested at home or in our immediate communities, there is a greater opportunity for maximizing your nutritional benefits, and our health is worth it.

The Community Alliance with Family Farms is best known in Humboldt County for its Farm to School program. It connects teachers directly to local farms through field trips, educational activities and nutritional awareness of fresh fruits and vegetables. This year the alliance has launched a "Buy Fresh Buy Local" campaign. From June to August, it is promoting local restaurant partners that serve creative dinners using Humboldt County produce. Each partner restaurant will highlight items on its menu that are locally produced, so consumers can easily choose to support local farms.

The first "Buy Fresh Buy Local" dinner was at F Street Café in Eureka on June 19 and celebrated the cuisine of Chef Dan McHugh. The next dinner is this Friday at Wildflower Café in Arcata. It will feature vegetarian options, with mixed baby greens from Little River Farms tossed with raspberry honey dressing, kale greens from Wildrose Farms sauteed with garlic, canario beans from Warren Creek Farms, and a local blueberry cobbler for dessert. These samplers will be side dishes served family style after

5 p.m. Seating will be first come, first served. Local wines from Briceland will be available by the glass. To complete the picture, Wildflower Café will present the artistry of our abundant produce through the work of local photographer Chris Wisner.

In August, "Buy Fresh Buy Local" dinners will be served at Avalon in Eureka, which will showcase a summer menu created from local producers of grass-fed beef and goat cheese, as well as local organic vegetables and beans from Warren Creek Farms and G-Farm.

On Aug. 26, the "Buy Fresh Buy Local" dinner will be hosted by Larrupin Café. Chef Tamara Tafoya is designing a fixed price menu for an evening in Trinidad.

Supporting the local restaurants that purchase from our local farms protects our Humboldt County food system, secures our agricultural lands for the future, strengthens our economy by circulating money locally, preserves the culture of agriculture and brings together our community to celebrate the abundance of our region.

Last September, at the height of our growing season, Community Alliance with Family Farmers also launched "Local Food Month." It celebrates the great variety and quantity of fresh fruits and vegetables available in our region and at our farms.

This September, Local Food Month events will provide opportunities to enjoy and learn about local foods and the people who produce them.

Local Food Month is a countywide celebration of local food, local farmers and local abundance, intended to raise awareness of agriculture and healthy food systems in Humboldt County. Each event brings people together to share food and fun in support of Humboldt County agriculture. A full calendar of events can be found at http://www.caff.org/humboldt, or by calling the alliance at 444-3255. The alliance works to promote Humboldt County agriculture, provide nutrition education and support market development for local farmers. The chapter is part of a statewide organization building a movement of rural and urban people in support of family farming and sustainable agriculture. 

Full Article

Mom-and-Pop Operators Turn to Social Media

New York Times

By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER

Published: July 22, 2009 

SAN FRANCISCO — Three weeks after Curtis Kimball opened his crème brûlée cart in San Francisco, he noticed a stranger among the friends in line for his desserts. How had the man discovered the cart? He had read about it on Twitter. 

For Mr. Kimball, who conceded that he "hadn't really understood the purpose of Twitter," the beauty of digital word-of-mouth marketing was immediately clear. He signed up for an account and has more than 5,400 followers who wait for him to post the current location of his itinerant cart and list the flavors of the day, like lavender and orange creamsicle.

Full Article

Howard County Restaurant Week (Baltimore, MD)

Summer Restaurant Weeks, July 27 – August 9, is an opportunity to recognize the importance of using locally grown, harvested or produced items in restaurant menus.

"It is great to know where our food comes from, even when we are dining out," said Executive Ulman. "This year's Restaurant Weeks partner local farms with local independent restaurants for menus with selections that feature local produce, herbs, meat, eggs, seafood. What a great way to support our local economy."

During the Summer 2009 Restaurant Weeks, July 27 to August 9, Howard County's finest restaurants will be serving up savings and locally grown products to help your budget and the environment. With 25 participating restaurants, residents and out-of-town guests will appreciate a chance to visit their favorite restaurants and discover new ones, enjoy great prices, all while they are supporting local farmers and wineries.

Full Article

Far From Homegrown

Corporate co-opting threatens the success of the "buy local" movement

by Stacy Mitchell

HSBC, one of the biggest banks on the planet, has taken to calling itself "the world's local bank." Winn-Dixie, a 500-outlet supermarket chain spanning five southern states, recently launched an ad campaign under the tagline "Local flavor since 1956." The International Council of Shopping Centers, a global consortium of mall owners and developers, is pouring millions of dollars into television ads urging people to "Shop Local" — at their nearest mall. Even Wal-Mart is getting in on the act, hanging bright green banners over its produce aisles that simply say "Local."

[read the full article here]

The Real Buy Local Movement

In one way, all of this corporate local-washing is good news for local economy advocates: It represents the best empirical evidence yet that the grassroots movement for locally produced goods and independently owned businesses now sweeping the country is having a measurable impact on the choices people make.

"Think of the millions of dollars these big companies spend on research and focus groups," observes Dan Cullen of the American Booksellers Association (ABA), a trade group that represents 1,700 independent bookstores and last year launched IndieBound, an initiative that helps locally owned businesses communicate their independence and community roots. "They wouldn't be doing this on a hunch."

Locally grown food has soared in popularity. The U.S. is now home to 4,385 active farmers markets, a third of which were started since 2000 (see sidebar for Northeast Ohio markets). Food co-ops and neighborhood greengrocers are on the rise. Driving is down, while data from several metropolitan regions shows that houses located within walking distance of small neighborhood stores have held value better than those isolated in the suburbs where the nearest gallon of milk is a five-mile drive to Target.

A growing number of independent businesses are trumpeting their local ownership and community roots and reporting a surge in customer traffic as a result. In April, even as Virgin Megastores prepared to shutter their last U.S. record store, independent music stores across the country were mobbed for the second annual Record Store Day. A celebration of local music retailers that features in-store concerts and exclusive releases, the event drew hundreds of thousands of people into stores, was one of Google's top search terms and triggered a 16-point upswing in album sales, according to Nielson SoundScan.

In city after city, inde-pendent businesses are organizing and creating the beginnings of what could become a powerful counterweight to the big-business lobbies that have long dominated public policy. Local business alliances have now formed in more than 130 cities and collectively count some 30,000 businesses as members (Northeast Ohio's can be found at ibuyneo.com). Through grassroots "buy local" and "local first" campaigns, these alliances are calling on people to choose independent businesses and local products more often and making the case that doing so is critical to rebuilding middle-class prosperity, averting environmental collapse and ensuring that our daily lives are not smothered by corporate uniformity.

Surveys and anecdotal reports from business owners suggest that these initiatives are in fact changing spending patterns. A survey of 1,100 independent retailers conducted in January by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (where I work) found that, amid the worst economic downturn since the Depression, buy-local sentiment is giving local businesses an edge over their chain competitors. While the Commerce Department reported that overall retail sales plunged almost 10 percent over the holidays, the survey found that independent retailers in cities with buy-local campaigns saw sales drop an average of just 3 percent from the previous year. Many respondents attributed this relative good fortune to the fact that more people are deliberately seeking out locally owned businesses.

[Full Article]

High street plan to beat the recession

While some high streets have a good proportion of local, independent retailers, others are dominated by the big names and verge towards being so-called "clone towns".

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) is arguing that towns should be looking to emulate the former, rather than the latter, and that high streets need to develop their own distinct identities if they are to survive the recession.

Full article

Just Around the Corner

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Latest Survey Results: What Are Franchises Saying About Local Leads

by Jeremy

Elements, in partnership with a leading online survey company, has just completed an extensive mail and online survey of United States Franchisee locations, on behalf of franchisors who want to know more.

After extensive analysis it became increasingly clear that franchisees believe the local independent competitors are significantly beating them at obtaining on line leads. The graphic below shows that over 75% of the respondents feel that local independents are doing a better job.

 77%  Local Independents are dominating Local Market

13%  Franchisees lack budget or time

10%  Franchisees lack expertise

 Local competitors can be better positioned because of many reasons. Chief among these reasons is the fact that Google can now discern when a franchisee is really a micro site on a corporate web site. Some forward looking franchisors are actually creating brand controlled, fully autonomous web sites for their franchisees.

 

With a fully autonomous site (meaning it has it's own domain name) Franchisees obtain a much higher Google ranking and significantly increase leads. These entrepreneurial companies are harnessing the power of the 'network effect' and combined power of their franchisees through cross links and local content to not only increase leads for their franchisees but to also increase leads for future franchise sales.

 

Reasons Local Competitors Win:

·         Google Knows They are Local

o    Independent URLs

o    Contains Local Content

·         Shoppers Feel They Are Buying Local

Solutions:

·         Allow Franchisees to add local content

·         Create Corporate Controlled Autonomous web sites

·         Cross-link all Franchisees and Corporate sites

 

Results:

·         Higher Search Ranking

·         Lower Pay per Click Costs

·         Increased Leads/Sales

·         Happier Franchisees

Jeremy LaDuque is the president and CEO of Elements Inc., an interactive web agency that assists businesses in solving critical challenges through forward-thinking implementation of web strategies and business solutions. Elements is the creator of ElementsLocal, an innovative software solution for franchises that helps increase company leads by maximizing search engine results. For more information on ElementsLocal, visit www.elementslocal.com and take the Tour. For additional tips from Jeremy or to set up an interview, editorial media can contact Jordan at On the Horizon Communications at (805) 773-1000 or jordan@thepressroom.com.

ARTICLE at source

Beyond Greed and Scarcity

~ excerpt of interview with Bernard Lietaer

SARAH : That also influences the unemployment rate.

BERNARD : It's certainly a major factor, but there's more to it. Information technologies increasingly allow us to attain very good economic growth without increases in employment. I believe we're seeing one of the last job-driven affluent periods in the US right now. As Jeremy Rifkin argues in his book, The End of Work, jobs are basically not going to be there anymore, even in "good times."

A study done by The International Metalworkers Federation in Geneva predicts that within the next 30 years, 2 or 3 percent of the world's population will be able to produce everything we need on the planet. Even if they're off by a factor of 10, we'd still have a question of what 80 percent of humanity will do.

My forecast is that local currencies will be a major tool for social design in the 21st century, if for no other reasons than employment. I don't claim that these local currencies will or should replace national currencies; that is why I call them "complementary" currencies. The national, competition-generating currencies will still have a role in the competitive global market. I believe, however, that complementary local currencies are a lot better suited to developing cooperative, local economies.

SARAH : And these local economies will provide a form of employment that won't be threatened with extinction?

BERNARD : As a first step, that is correct. For example, in France, there are now 300 local exchange networks, called Grain de Sel, literally "Grain of Salt." These systems - which arose exactly when and where the unemployment levels reached about 12 percent - facilitate exchanges of everything from rent to organic produce, but they do something else as well. Every fortnight in the Ariege, in southwestern France, there is a big party. People come to trade not only cheeses, fruits, and cakes as in the normal market days, but also hours of plumbing, haircuts, sailing or English lessons. Only local currencies accepted!

Local currency creates work, and I make a distinction between work and jobs. A job is what you do for a living; work is what you do because you like to do it. I expect jobs to increasingly become obsolete, but there is still an almost infinite amount of fascinating work to be done.

For example, in France you find people offering guitar lessons and requesting lessons in German. Neither would pay in French francs. What's nice about local currency is that when people create their own money, they don't need to build in a scarcity factor. And they don't need to get currency from elsewhere in order to have a means of making an exchange with a neighbor.

Edgar Cahn's Time Dollars are a classical example. As soon as you have an agreement between two people about a transaction using Time Dollars, they literally create the necessary "money" in the process; there's no scarcity of money. That does not mean there's an infinite amount of this currency, either; you cannot give me 500,000 hours - nobody has 500,000 hours to give. So there's a ceiling on it, yes, but there's no artificial scarcity. Instead of pitting people against each other, the system actually helps them cooperate.

SARAH : So you're suggesting that scarcity needn't be a guiding principle of our economic system. But isn't scarcity absolutely fundamental to economics, especially in a world of limited resources?

read the whole article in YES! Magazine HERE

“10% Shift Happens”

There is a localization movement going on in America, and you just may be hearing about it. “Buy Local” and “3/50 Project” are popping up in cities across our great nation, and the recent “10% Shift Happens” in the Lowcountry of South Carolina are all examples of how local communities can rally together to preserve their locally-owned stores, business and restaurants.

For every dollar spent locally, Hartsville benefits by providing jobs for our neighbors and property taxes that assist our schools. It also ensures the future quality of living that we currently enjoy.

The connections that you build with local small business owners has a certain quality that you cannot recreate by driving out of town, using a non-local business or purchasing something online. The exchange of money for a product or service is the same, trading dollars is the same, but the overall feeling is different.

Take a moment. Imagine your favorite local independent store, business or restaurant, and think of some experiences you’ve had there. Maybe the store owner greeted you with a smile and remembered your name. Remember a happy day that you ate a meal with your loved ones to celebrate a birthday.

Think back to a time you saw your local physician outside of their office and they asked how you were, or recognized the person that performed a service in your home out with their family. Those personal connections are what make living in a smaller city so special.

If you buy food from a local farmer, for example, you are purchasing food that you know where it was grown and not sitting for days in a truck wasting gallons of fuel to get to you. The dollars you exchange for your locally grown food went right to the source, and immediately made a difference for someone that you share a zip code with.

My hometown of Bath, Maine, is employing the 3/50 project at many businesses. The nation wide movement asks consumers to imagine the following:

1. Pick three locally owned stores you’d miss if they disappeared, then return to them. Say hello. Pick up a little something that will make someone smile. Those purchases keep those businesses around.

2. If just half the employed US population committed to spending $50 in locally owned stores each month, it would generate more than $42.6 billion in revenue. Imagine what would happen if 3/4 of them did that.

3. For every $100 spent in locally owned stores, $68 returns to the local economy through payroll taxes, property taxes, sales tax, payroll, and other business related expenditures. When purchasing from a chain or franchise, that amount drops to $42; if it’s spent online, nothing comes home.

Here in South Carolina, the Lowcountry has their own idea of “10% Shift Happens”, asking local citizens to shift 10 percent of their income to local banking, clothing purchases, groceries, household spending and more to strengthen the economy of the home that they love and cherish.

People from all socio-economic levels here in Hartsville are feeling the effects of a tough economy, and all thinking of ways we can save money. There is a committee forming to come up with a local effort to have a Hartsville based localization movement, and it’ll be a way we as neighbors and friends can band together to remind others to shop locally.

As we enjoy the rest of summer, let’s make a personal challenge to take the extra time to find what we need for products and services here at home. It makes sense economically, and it just makes you feel better, too.

FULL Article

In Tacoma: Independent Stadium Thriftway plans big expansion

". . .Hargreaves gained financing for the deal through a Small Business Administration loan, said Genal Gavaldon, business loan specialist for the City of Tacoma Community and Economic Development Department.

"It's been a long time coming and I think the neighborhood deserves it," she said late Thursday afternoon. "Mike has a loyal following and I think the expansion really means additional opportunities for his customers. What makes it nice – it was taken away from the political side, because it's not a city decision. We made a referral to the National Development Council Grow America Fund."

She visited Stadium Thriftway several times with fund representatives. "They were very impressed with the store, and Mike's service," she said.

"I think it really suggests the future," said Bob Levin, private capital division manager for the city's development office. "Our future looks even brighter. We're glad to see that Mike is willing and able to make a forward capital investment. In most cases, about 70 percent of new job creation comes from existing businesses."

Hargreaves said that as the expansion progresses, he will be increasing his current staff of 60 by at least 30 percent. . ."

Full article

Project 95: Fabric Shoppers Unite—Shop Independents

Did you know that 95 percent of fabric shoppers make their purchases at chain stores? That's right, only 5 percent shop independents. Let's change that.

Welcome to Project 95

Project 95: Fabric Shoppers Unite—Shop Independents is a worldwide network of independent quilt and fabric shops, that have joined forces to promote shopping independents. By buying from Project 95 shops, you support this movement and join with consumers just like yourself to ensure that you will have access to specialized quilting and sewing supplies, no matter where you live.

Why Shop Independents?

There are three good reasons to choose independents over chain stores.

Excellent Service. At independents, you can expect caring attention to your needs.

Superior Knowledge. Independent shop staffs are quilters and sewers themselves, and have unsurpassed product knowledge that they pass on to you.

Count on Quality. Fabrics, notions and tools available at independents are the highest quality.

Starbucks tests new names for stores (Local washing?)

When is a Starbucks not a Starbucks? When it's a 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea.

The ubiquitous coffee-shop giant is dropping the household name from its 15th Avenue East store on Capitol Hill, a shop that was slated to close at one point last year but is being remodeled in Starbucks' new rustic, eco-friendly style.

It will open next week, the first of at least three remodeled Seattle-area stores that will bear the names of their neighborhoods rather than the 16,000-store chain to which they belong.

Names and locations for the other two shops have not been finalized. If the pilot goes well in Seattle, it could move to other markets.

The new names are meant to give the stores "a community personality," said Tim Pfeiffer, senior vice president of global design. Starbucks' logo will be absent, with bags of the company's coffee and other products rebranded with the 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea name.

Full Article

Why Buy Local?

An excerpt from boulderganic - a publication of the Boulder Weekly newspaper in Boulder, Colorado.  June, 2009.

In these difficult economic times, it is perhaps more important than ever to buy local.  Studies have shown that a higher percentage of every dollar spent in local, independent businesses is returned to the local residents, as compared to money spent in corporations and chain stores. 

"They've done so many studies," says Jennifer Johnson, executive director of the Boulder Independent Business Alliance (BIBA).  "One study shows two to three times more money stays local if you buy from an independent store because they buy their services and products as local as they can.  [A local, independent business] will use a local accountant and local marketing, those kinds of things.  I think it depends on the community and also the type of industry that they're comparing; however, the statistics are compelling." 

To learn more about how to start or find and Independent Business Alliance in your area, visit the American Independent Business Alliance at www.amiba.com.  AMIBA has encouraged cities across the country to take an active role in protecting their local economies. 

Link to article 

Visualising Sustainability

Sometimes you need a picture to convey a thousand words. This is a nice collection of diagrams each depicting the concept of Triple Bottom Line.

Read the article and see the pictures here on the Computing for Sustainability Blog.

Stockton promotes local independent restaurants

Wes Rhea, director of the Stockton Conference and Visitors Bureau, is hoping to build on the success of similar regional events, such as San Francisco's Dine About Town.

"We've seen it be successful in other cities, but it hasn't been replicated in the Central Valley," Rhea said. The goal is to draw diners to local venues, in order to raise awareness about restaurants in the community that might otherwise be overlooked in favor of national chains such as Applebee's and Macaroni Grill.

"The culinary void in Stockton has been filled by chain restaurants, and these chains don't add anything to our sense of community," Davies said. "I say, go local all the way."

Full Article: Week to Promote Stockton Eateries

The Real Buy Local Movement

Signs that consumer preferences are trending local abound. Locally grown food has soared in popularity. The U.S. is now home to 4,385 active farmers markets, one out of every three of which was started since 2000. Food co-ops and neighborhood greengrocers are on the rise. Driving is down, while data from several metropolitan regions show that houses located within walking distance of small neighborhood stores have held value better than those isolated in the suburbs where the nearest gallon of milk is a five-mile drive to Target.

A growing number of independent businesses are trumpeting their local ownership and community roots, and reporting a surge in customer traffic as a result. In April, even as Virgin Megastores prepared to shutter its last U.S. record store, independent music stores across the country were mobbed for the second annual Record Store Day. A celebration of local music retailers that features in-store concerts and exclusive releases, the event drew hundreds of thousands of music fans into stores, was one of the top search terms on Google and triggered a 16-point upswing in album sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

In city after city, independent businesses are organizing and creating the beginnings of what could become a powerful counterweight to the big-business lobbies that have long dominated public policy. Local business alliances like Stay Local in New Orleans, the Metro Independent Business Alliance in Minneapolis-St Paul and Arizona Local First in Phoenix have formed in more than 130 cities and collectively count some 30,000 businesses as members. Through grassroots "buy local" and "local first" campaigns, these alliances are calling on people to choose independent businesses and local products more often and making the case that doing so is critical to rebuilding middle-class prosperity, averting environmental collapse and ensuring that our daily lives are not smothered by corporate uniformity.

Full Article: The dirty tricks behind local-washing How national corporations are co-opting the idea of "local"

Street Farmer

Street Farmer By ELIZABETH ROYTE

New York Times Magazine

Published: July 5, 2009

Can Will Allen make the inner city the next front in the good-food movement?

Like others in the so-called good-food movement, Allen, who is 60, asserts that our industrial food system is depleting soil, poisoning water, gobbling fossil fuels and stuffing us with bad calories. Like others, he advocates eating locally grown food. But to Allen, local doesn’t mean a rolling pasture or even a suburban garden: it means 14 greenhouses crammed onto two acres in a working-class neighborhood on Milwaukee’s northwest side, less than half a mile from the city’s largest public-housing project.

Full Article

Theaters Take a Nimble Approach to Economic Blues

"We are in the heart of the Niagara wine country," says Valerie Taylor, Shaw's director of marketing. With one winery — the Hillebrand Winery — the theater has created a "go-local" dining package that celebrates wine and food grown in the region and includes, of course, theater tickets. Taylor calls it "one-stop shopping."

That shopping also includes the search for value, and more theaters than ever are offering discount tickets. "You name it, we probably have got a discount for it," says Tina Packer, founding artistic director of Shakespeare & Company, which is located in Massachusetts' Berkshires.

Among the theater's many special offers: a 40 percent discount for Berkshire County residents (except for Friday and Saturday evenings), a discount for those over 64 or under 19, a day-of-performance youth rush, a discount for purchase of the five-play Shakespeare package and free tickets for up to three children (ages 5-18) if a parent purchases a full-price matinee ticket.

FULL ARTICLE