Today is the last day of Thanksgiving weekend. It’s my favorite holiday, not for the Disneyfied account of the feast shared by the Wampanoag people and English colonists, but in the tradition of Abraham Lincoln, who established a national day to give thanks in a time of great division, the Civil War. I appreciate the idea that we pause and reflect on how, in any year no matter how tough, we have much to be thankful for. I’d like to share things that I am thankful for this year in Humboldt’s business world.
I am thankful to be part of a largely supportive business community. We’re not always great collaborators in Humboldt, but I’d say folks in business here are, on average, at least at the 75th percentile, which I’d call good but with room for improvement. Many collaborate. They partner. They mentor. As an example, in the 2010s Cypress Grove Chevre helped startup food and beverage makers to understand tradeshows, as part of an early Humboldt Made effort. Now, businesses that participated as startups in that program are doing the same for new businesses.
I appreciate the amount of infrastructure that exists to help small businesses in Humboldt. The Small Business Development Center. The Headwaters Fund (which funded a good chunk of that early Humboldt Made work). The lenders: commercial banks, credit unions and the economic development organizations such as the Redwood Region Economic Development Commission (RREDC) and North Edge, who can take on a little more risk. The chambers, for doing their part, and many others.
I’m grateful for the support I receive personally. I’m thankful for having drinks or coffee with smart, engaged people with the intention of sorting some things out. The list includes John Richmond, Susan Seaman, Lynette Mullen, Gregg Foster, Peter Jermyn and others. I give thanks for those coffee spots where we meet, or alternatively for good bars, from those of the divey variety to the elegant.
I’m super-thankful for my clients in my little consulting practice. I truly enjoy working with you, and also, you have no idea how much I appreciate paying the mortgage.
I’m grateful for people who spend their holiday shopping funds locally. (And starting this year, there’s a great app to earn points, prizes and badges when you Choose Humboldt. Download the free Vibemap app, sign up and access the Shop Humboldt Passport.)
I give thanks for the scrappy nature of businesses and organizations here. Of course, that represents the scrappy nature of the people within them. In 2025, this goes double for people who toil away in our essential nonprofit organizations.
To close with what may be obvious, I appreciate the local businesses that make my life go. These are the food and grocery stores, our go-to restaurants and the new ones that we’ll try, the plumber, the baker, the candlestick maker. And while I may not personally be a customer, I also give thanks for those export businesses that bring jobs and income here, and circulate that money to the rest of us. I’m thinking of the oyster farms, of Marimba One, of the breweries, of Koketat and many others.
I’m grateful for people who have an entrepreneurial drive, the ones who keep going following the words, if not exactly the complicated spirit, of Samuel Beckett, who wrote:
“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter.
Try again. Fail again. Fail better.”
Here’s hoping that you have many things to be thankful for this holiday season.
Michael Kraft works as an independent consultant and writes on business, nonprofits and beer. You can reach him at michael@kraftconsultants.com.
