Webtastic

The highly anticipated, long-awaited Big Gnome Web site launched earlier this week. When your parents are asking if your site will ever launch, you know you’re lagging behind. Hopefully we’ll make them proud.

The new site has its own big blog that will sync up with the original here. Many thanks to Period Three for giving us the wings to fly.

The site will give you a taste of what we do. If we’ve not given you enough, then get in touch. Let’s talk.

Palmetto PR Divas unite!

For your reading pleasure, check out my recent guest blog on Palmetto PR Divas, a fun and informative public relations blog created by Kim Banks of Simko Communications and Liza Jones of Payne Jones Public Relations. Thank you for such a warm welcome to the Upstate!

Big Gnome goes green

We’re not going paperless or using biodiesel to brew coffee. We’ve gone green as in Greenville, South Carolina! Stay tuned on our new adventures in the Upstate.

Big news.

One of our designers, Cheryl, had her first baby yesterday afternoon. Congrats on your little bundle o’ joy!

Cheryl and her husband kept their baby’s name a secret, divulging only that they were going to name her after one of the streets they take on their way to church.

We were really excited about little Route 62 coming into our lives, but it turns out they went with “Erin.”

Naming Erin became something of a national effort over the past few months, culminating into a spot on April 23rd’s “Talkin’ Funny.”

Glad tidings

We’ll be closed this afternoon through next Wednesday. Many thanks to Cheryl for her Christmas card design!

CreateAthon: a look back

Christmas comes but once a year, but that shouldn’t limit one’s giving spirit to this month only. Consider hosting a CreatAthon in your community.

Now that the potent mix of caffeine headache, sugar highs and lows, and fatigue, is long forgotten, CreateAthon was definitely a highlight of 2007.

Big Gnome was invited by Trio Solutions, the official CreateAthon agency for South Carolina’s Lowcountry, to lend a hand with the efforts. For 24 hours straight, we created brochures, Web sites, event materials and marketing plans for several local nonprofit organizations, including LOVE Inc., My Sister’s House, Teachers’ Supply Closet, Lowcountry Earth Force, and the Berkeley County Foundation of Volunteers for the SC Guardian Ad Litem Program. Our time and work were donated.

Spork in the Road

This past August, I had the pleasure of a 48-hour trip to Hilton Head Island to taste and write about all food local, good and gourmet, for Edible Lowcountry, part of the grassroots network of publications, Edible Communities, featured in The New York Times in August.

Folks with a subscription can turn to page 49 of the fall issue (or pick it up at Whole Foods or Boone Hall Farm’s store) to read “Fork in the Road.” This recounts my experience with a side of Hilton Head that most visitors don’t see-the farmers with small produce stands, diners only the “locals” know about, and tips on where to get the best fresh seafood and limoncello.

“Spork in the Road” is the title to the Rolling Stone version of the article, which I haven’t written yet, and did my darndest not to write so I’d maybe get another assignment in the future. “Spork” is not meant to demean the culinary wonderland into which I stepped. When you’re huddled over a styrofoam tray toppled with cobblers and creamy taters made from recipes that have been passed down for several generations in the back roads of a spawling tourist destination, you want to cherish that little moment, with spork in hand.

Writing for Edible was a personal goal, a tiny joy. I knew that businesses profiled in the article would reap benefits: free pr, new customers. But, I didn’t expect this email from Ed McCullough, an islander for more than 20 years, business person and media guy, who I interviewed:

I LOVE your article! You really write beautifully and your wonderful enthusiasm shines through every word. And it was so easy to gain a warm and friendly and accurate sense of everyone you met. Not to get too over the top, but I really think it’s the best representation of Hilton Head that I have ever read.

Can I buy several hundred copies of the magazine?…I want everyone on the island to read it. Would someone come on my show to talk about the magazine and the article and the local food movement?

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for doing such a wonderful job.

Vaya con Dios,

Ed

Down with LLC

LLC in most circles stands for “Limited Liability Company.” At Big Gnome, it’s Long Live Creativity. We received our official “Certificate of Existence” in the mail recently, which for a late Friday afternoon led to much celebration that we’re well, official, and the realization that at some point the Secretary of State’s people processed our paperwork with the words Big Gnome on it. We hope they smiled. We hope they call us for some pr or marketing support. Simple joys.