At the PA Cider Guild, we appreciate each and every one of our members. Their ranks include plenty of cideriesfrom across our great state, but they also include Supporters at other levels. These are our Enthusiast-level members, who are individuals who love Pennsylvania cider and want to help uphold and promote the industry, and also our Associate members, small businesses and organizations that are involved or adjacent to the industry in some capacity.
One of our key Associate members is Starfish Junction Productions, an award-winning, full-service, marketing and event production company based in Bay Shore, New York, on the south shore of Long Island. Since 2005, Starfish Junction has been organizing awesome events like the Pour the Core cider festivals, one of which is in Philadelphia, the Beer Under the Big Top and the Valley Forge Beer & Cider Festival.
Starfish Junction is more than just fun festivals, though; it also offers a whole range of services. On the creative side, the company designs websites (including our very own site!) and does branding, social media, merchandise and signage. On the marketing side, it handles advertising, promotion, press releases, consumer engagement and much more. Starfish Junction’s client list is a diverse mix of major players in the food and beverage industry, including Philly Loves Beer, Imbibe Magazine, The Riverhead Ciderhouse, the New York State Brewers Association and Blue Point Brewing Company. It has also partnered with a variety of nonprofit organizations and charities to produce events to help raise awareness and funds for important causes, like the Committee to Benefit the Children, based out of Philadelphia’s St. Christopher’s Hospital, and Kids Need More.
Owner Andy Calimano (left) notes that he was first interested in the PACG when he saw the strength of the United States Association of Cider Makers — people coming together to make changes for the betterment of the industry — and felt that could be done at a local level in Pennsylvania.
“We may not be in the business of making cider, but we work with cider makers throughout the year, so we should be an active participant in helping the industry [in Pennsylvania] move forward,” he said.
“We helped form the Guild back in 2014 after we saw the continual growth of and interest in Pennsylvania-made cider at our hard cider festival, Pour the Core, in Philadelphia,” said Kristyn Dolan, Starfish Junction’s director of event production and sales and also editor of Hard Cider News. “When we first launched the festival in 2013, the Pennsylvania cider producers that joined us were very welcoming of our festival and understood our goal of wanting to educate and introduce the consumer to the wide variety of cider available to them. We help to further the cider industry in Pennsylvania and support local, small businesses like ours by working with the Guild using the resources and skills we have.”
Many thanks to Starfish Junction for its commitment to the PACG! If you think your organization or business could benefit from being part of our community, consider joining at the Associate member level.
For more information on the Pennsylvania Cider Guild, visit our website, follow us on Facebook and sign up for our email newsletter for updates.
Photo Credit: Michael Kuntz for Cider Culture. Logos used with permission from Starfish Junction.