Strawberry Ice Cream Social & Austin Miller Awards

Our Strawberry Ice Cream Social and Austin Miller Co-op Hero Awards are Thursday, June 12th, 2025! Join us for this annual celebration of the summer strawberry harvest and the local nonprofits doing good work in our communities.
 

The Austin Miller Co-op Hero Awards strive to recognize those people and organizations that nurture and sustain our co-op and community. Created in 2009 by River Valley Co-op, the awards recognize individuals, nonprofits, businesses and farm or food businesses in the Pioneer Valley that support the co-op and embody the cooperative principle, "Support for Community."

This year, all proceeds from the Ice Cream Social will benefit the Center for New Americans, an education center for immigrants and refugees in Northampton, MA, that offers English-learning classes, legal services, and more. They are also our June Change for Change recipient! Click here to learn more.
 
 

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Our musical guest this year is The Gaslight Tinkers! Their sound is a festive blend of African, Caribbean, Funk, Reggae, and Latin grooves with traditional fiddle music. It's the genre-bending future of the music of the past!

The Gaslight Tinkers' blend of global rhythms creates a joyously danceable sound around a core of traditional New England old time and Celtic fiddle music, merging boundless positive energy with melody and song. Since its formation in 2012 the band has lit up the East Coast, the West Coast, and the Caribbean, headlining clubs, dances, and major festivals. Playing what The Valley Advocate describes as “Music that consistently fizzes and pops with unexpected textures and turns,” The Gaslight Tinkers’ shows are packed with delightful surprises, elated crowds, and exuberant musicianship. The sound and energy of I-Shea, Clara, Garrett, Elie, and Peter are universally irresistible.

Click here for a video!

 
About the Austin Miller Awards

Here in the Pioneer Valley, it's easy to take our vibrant co-op community for granted. But it takes committed individuals and organizations to support people in need, champion a sustainable environment, and develop a strong food system that contributes to the local economy.

The Austin Miller Co-op Hero Awards strive to recognize those people and organizations that nurture and sustain our co-op and our community. Created in 2009 by River Valley Co-op, the Austin Miller Co-op Hero Awards recognize:

1. An individual;
2. A nonprofit organization;
3. A local business;
4. A farm or food business in the Pioneer Valley that has supported River Valley Co-op and embodies the cooperative principle of "Support for Community."

Austin Miller was awarded the first annual Co-op Hero Award during our cooperative’s celebration of the first birthday of our store on April 30th, 2009, for extraordinary support from a co-op owner. Austin tirelessly and passionately championed the dreams of our membership for a locally grown food co-op in Northampton.

Austin was a founding co-op owner whose career was devoted to serving people in Western Massachusetts by supporting community development projects that provided low income housing, shelter for victims of domestic violence, and food for the hungry. Austin specialized in securing financing for projects that directly benefited people in need and strengthened our communities. Austin was the financial consultant who secured the financing agreements between River Valley Co-op and the banks that provided the economic development funding and financing for our co-op start-up project in Northampton. Our community lost a good friend when Austin passed away in October 2009.