[singlepic id=1100 w= h= float=none]By day, Ken Koenig is a salesman, selling school buses. But in his free time he crafts fanciful dragonflies, butterflies and katydids out of copper and brass, and mounts them on stems, the kind that home gardeners like to plant in flowerbeds and poolside.
“People always say they don’t want the mosquito, but then they buy one,” said Koenig of Shrewsbury River CopperWorks, who was generating a buzz with his menagerie of garden insects priced between $35-$55 at the Made in Monmouth product show on Saturday. “I sell a lot here.”
The annual showcase of locally produced goods drew more than 160 vendors to Monmouth University’s MAC center, all motivated to tell the small groups of browsing shoppers about their wares, and often to offer you a sample. There was a huge variety of products to learn about, such as dried beef from Keansburg, honey from a farm in Clarksburg, and lavender soap from Manalapan.
“Ninety-five percent of the businesses in the county are small businesses,” said Freeholder Thomas Arnone, who defines small business to be 15 employees or less. As the county’s liaison to the business community, Arnone visits local chambers of commerce to tell them about county resources to help them start or promote their businesses. As their fortunes rise, so will tax revenue, he said. “It’s a domino effect.”
– Christina Johnson
