A logo of Local LBK’s showing the Lubbock skyline. (Provided photos)
By Barrett Bergez
When he was in college, Taylor McAlpine had an idea: create a social media account that was tailor-made to promote local businesses.
McAlpine drew his inspiration from accounts such as Lubbock in the Loop and Visit Lubbock. Where those accounts focused on the tourist side and on what was new in the city, McAlpine’s account would focus on a local’s perspective.
“Out of the Lubbock accounts that were big at the time, there wasn’t one doing just local,” he said.
McAlpine is the founder and owner of Local LBK, an organization that promotes the Lubbock community by supporting local businesses.
When he started his original Instagram account, the platform was still new and the following for the account grew naturally as more people joined Instagram, McAlpine said.
Taylor McAlpine at the Lubbock Downtown Farmers Market selling Local LBK merchandise. (Provided photos)
One of the main focuses of Local LBK is to promote experiences for locals to have, one of those is the Lubbock Downtown Farmers Market, he said.
Anna Gomez, a former intern for the venue, said one focus of the farmers market is to promote locally sourced products and engage with the community.
“It’s really important to them to just kind of support Lubbock and the people of Lubbock,” Gomez said.
Another big local experience Local LBK is involved with is the First Friday Art Trail, McAlpine said.
The art trail is a group of artists, collectors and locals who gather to form a wide variety of exhibits for the public to enjoy at their own leisure in and around buildings in the art district of Lubbock, according to the FFAT website.
McAlpine said the sponsor of First Friday Art Trail is LHUCA, the Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, and both LHUCA and Local LBK have overlapping support for certain community issues and themes.
By supporting and promoting experiences over just products, he said Local LBK is able to engage the community and establish relationships between locals and local businesses.
Keaton Crane, head roaster and coffee manager at Sugar Brown’s Coffee, said at the start of the COVID-19 shut downs support from the community was a major factor in helping the shop.
Crane said Texas Tech students are a huge part of the customer base for the coffee shop and when all the students left it was a hit to the shop.
Taylor McAlpine (right) and Steve Newsom (left) recording Local LBK’s podcast episode discussing Mr. Newsom’s local winery. (Provided photos)
“The amount of support we got was really reassuring just of our place within the community,” Crane said.
McAlpine said his hope for the future is for there to be a form of a Local LBK in communities across the United States helping to support local businesses and drive community engagement.
There is a missing role in communities to support locals which McAlpine feels can be filled by a Local LBK type organization, he said.
“If it’s local or Lubbock based, we want to work with those people to help share their stories,” McAlpine said, “and help people connect and appreciate the great things going on in town.”
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