Local Etsy Street Teams have been organizing really engaging events this summer! Here's what's new from a small sampling of geographic Etsy Teams, groups of members that join up with other members based on where they live, to promote Etsy. Next week we'll have the latest news on what the Virtual Teams are up to.

• The INCrowd, Indiana's Etsy Team, is promoting a team-wide sale to benefit flood relief efforts in Central and Southern Indiana. One of their members, Carrie aka TimeandSand, is the director of the Care and Outreach program at Grace Lutheran Church in Columbus, IN.  "At the moment, everyone has been helped and is in temporary housing — they closed the shelter over the weekend. We will continue to take donations for quite awhile; the next phase is to help people rebuild and many did not have insurance and FEMA is not covering everything," she says.  Participating shops will be donating a minimum of 10% of their July sales to the church for flood relief assistance. "Our membership is spread across the state of Indiana. Any part of our state that is affected by disasters — natural or otherwise - needs our support. These are our neighbors, our friends, and our families," says Kim aka ThePeachMartini.  For a list of participating shops, please visit the INCrowd's blog.  
• The Florida Etsy Team got a great blog write-up showing off their innovative and crafty recycling ideas for what to do with leftover party beads on the city blog at Tampabay.com. Getting press showcasing your Team's creative ideas is a wonderful way to attract people to your Team members' shops! Congratulations, Florida Team!

• The Seattle Metropolitian Team, EtsyRain, held a big event in June, pictured above. They organized a BBQ / fundraiser to benefit the Ballard NW Senior Center. The event included a fantastic craft show with their membership in the main hall while the volunteers from the senior center had a cookout to raise some much needed funds for their community center. Their event was a huge success, and supporting their local community is one of EtsyRain's main goals as a team! Stay tuned to the EtsyRain blog for EtsyRain's first birthday celebration on August 1st! More info coming soon!
• Members of the Baltimore Etsy Street Team channeled their inner models, imagined drinking Slurpees, and otherwise beat the heat to have a group publicity photo shoot on the first day of summer.  This picture above is just a teaser, and the rest will be used for all the rockin' promotion the team has been getting locally.  Team members are now busy getting ready for their first trunk show and preparing to participate in Artscape.
• The Philadelphia Etsy Team is pleased to announce Craftadelphia!, a series of monthly trunk shows in collaboration with the Mew Gallery in Philly's Italian Market. The Philly Team meets on the third Friday of each month, 6pm, at the Mew Gallery — all local Etsy sellers are welcome to attend.