The small town of Brattleboro, Vermont recently announced that it has met the criteria to declare itself a Fair Trade Town. Brattleboro is the second Fair Trade Town in the United States and the third in North America after Woflville, Nova Scotia became the second in April and Media, Pensylvania led the way in January.

The creative Fair Trade Town campaign, which has helped to spread the word about the Fair Trade movement, began in Garstang, England in 1999. At its inception local representative George Foulkes set the bar high for the future of the campaign:

It is a great initiative by Garstang. Not just on behalf of myself, nor just on behalf of the department for International Development, but on behalf of the government I would really like to welcome what is a great initiative… I want to try to ensure that the initiative is followed in many other towns and cities throughout the whole of the United Kingdom and beyond, so that the beacon that has started in Garstang can spread like wildfire through the whole of the country.

His vision is slowly coming to fruition. Over 250 towns and cities are declared to be Fair Trade Towns in the UK and Europe. But what does it mean? Towns and cities that are Fair Trade Towns have met or pledged to meet five goals (PDF), summarized here:

• Sign a resolution pledging to serve only Fair Trade coffee, tea and chocolate at city meetings or in municipal offices.
• The town has a minimum number of retail outlets, based on population, offering at least two fair trade goods.
• As many of the town’s major employers as possible have committed to using Fair Trade products.
• The town commits to promoting Fair Trade in cooperation with the local media.
• The town council forms a steering committee to direct promotion efforts and maintain commitment to the goals.

Most every Fair Trade Town resolution also cites a commitment to buying locally produced goods when available as well. The Fair Trade Towns movement is a shining example of grassroots organization and the power of communities to embrace and promote new ideas. In fact the Fair Trade Towns campaign has been so effective throughout the UK that Scotland and Wales have laid out mutual goals toward which to work for Fair Trade Nation status, which includes every town working toward Fair Trade Town status and over half having already achieved it.