We are fortunate to live in a community with an enormous amount of creative, giving, motivated people. I have lived in 11 states, all over the country and I have never lived anywhere like Moscow. For a town of 22,000 or so, many of us have at least three different activities that we have to choose from. There is so much art, music, theater, academia…what a rich culture that we all create and share.

Another unique feature of Moscow is its internationalism. No, we are not that diverse of a culture when it comes to race, but boy are we known to the far corners of the earth. You can go almost anywhere and find people who have lived, know some who has lived, or has at least heard of Moscow, Idaho.

The last unique part that I would like to touch on is that this town is a vortex. You may leave, but you’ll be back. Some folks go to school, leave to do graduate work, and then come back years later to raise children. Some folks leave the area for a better job market and then come back to retire (Moscow’s largest growth sector). And then it often feels like people have moved because so many of us travel so much, and for so long.

Okay, so what does any of this have to do with the Co-op? This culture is the Co-op! We have many creative people who come to work here, with great ideas. We have a board and management with out of the box vision for the future. We have a diverse crowd of employees, volunteers and patrons from all over the United States and the world—the proverbial melting pot.

We are not only part of the culture, catering to those who create our culture, but we are a venue for it—with our art on the walls, Tuesday Night Music, and our participation at events throughout the community. You can find us at births, weddings, and memorial services. And our employees, volunteers and patrons can be found doing cool stuff all over the community—making art, teaching, building things, working with kids, elderly, and putting out fires. We act, we build bikes for Africa. We raise awareness about the environment, health, water, and the underprivileged.