Check Out The World's Largest Sock Monkey In Atlanta

Gift and decor supplier Midwest is taking its popular sock monkeys to new heights (literally), introducing the world's biggest Genuine Monkeez sock monkey at the Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishing Market, which runs Jan. 6-14.

At 8 feet tall, Super Sammy is really more of a sock gorilla. Larger than life, he'll be on display in Midwest's AmericasMart showroom in Building One/Merchandise Mart, Suite 16A7, and he'll also be the star of Midwest's Go Bananas event on Friday, Jan. 9 from 4 to 7 p.m. Independent retailers are invited to attend the event, get their photos taken with Super Sammy and receive complimentary Genuine Monkeez gifts, as well as free freight on all Genuine Monkeez orders of $500 or more with immediate shipping.

If you don't have a chance to meet Super Sammy in Atlanta, he'll be making appearances in Midwest's showrooms in Dallas, New York and Las Vegas, too.

Programs For Kids

I’m going through the Revolutionary 100 surveys now to write up details for our web coverage, and noticed a couple of garden centers focusing activities toward kids this year. I wanted to post a link to a program that I think is really beneficial and might help some retailers in their efforts to reach kids. It’s a program called Veggie U, and the link is www.veggieu.com.

This program is a non-profit created by The Chef’s Garden in Milan, Ohio. It’s a farm dedicated to growing specialty herbs, veggies and microgreens sustainably, and supplies chefs all over the country. The idea came about when the owners were sitting with some chefs talking about the lack of nutrition education for kids. They came up with the program, which involves sending vegetable seeds and soil packets to classrooms across the country, along with a curriculum designed to teach kids in a fun and enjoyable way about vegetables and nutrition.

I don’t know if there are partnership opportunities with this program for garden centers, but it seems like it would be a great way to tie together nutrition and gardening.

ANLA Blog Fest Today!

Want to find some good ideas fast? Check out the 2009 ANLA Management Clinic blog, which is being updated Thursday, Dec. 18 every hour from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. with all sorts of ideas you can take to the bank.
The blog’s focus is Managing Through Tough Times, and our own Group Editor Richard Jones will be one of the featured bloggers, along with Dale Deppe of Spring Meadow Nursery, Ken Long, president of Garden Centers of America and co-owner of L.A. Reynolds Home & Garden Showplace, and many others.
Find it all at www.managementclinic.org/blog/index.cfm.