Interview with Summer Auerbach, September 8, 2016

Interview Summary

Summer Auerbach was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. Her family includes her parents Pumpkin and Rob Auerbach, her sister Star Auerbach, and her grandparents Minx and Sy Auerbach. Summer grew up partly on the Auerbach farm, Firefly Farm, in Oldham County, an area where few other Jews lived at the time. However, Summer still went to Sunday school, celebrated Jewish holidays, attended Jewish summer camps, traveled to Israel, and was proud of her Jewish heritage. Summer Auerbach's parents opened a family business, the restaurant and natural foods grocery store called Rainbow Blossom, in 1977 in Louisville. As a youth, Summer worked at Rainbow Blossom, completing tasks such as bagging groceries and helping customers. Once she completed business school, her father and grandmother became very sick and the family business struggled. Summer describes this as a pivotal moment in her life because she stepped in to save the family business. She has grown the business from three Rainbow Blossom stores to five stores across Kentucky and Indiana. Summer helped found the Louisville Independent Business Alliance, which pioneered the Keep Louisville Weird campaign modeled after the Austin, Texas campaign called Keep Austin Weird. The goal was to help the small and locally run businesses in Louisville, Kentucky. In addition, Summer Auerbach helped to start a weekly farmers market in Louisville in 2007.

Interview Keyword

College students--Religious life College environment Rainbow Blossom Ashland (Ky.) Oldham County (Ky.) Family farms Fasts and feasts--Judaism. Holidays.

Interview LC Subject

Entrepreneurship Jewish businesspeople Small business--Kentucky Small business--Ownership Louisville (Ky.) Jewish families. Family histories. Genealogy Worship (Judaism) Religion Jewish children Jews--Identity. Families

Interview Rights

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Interview Usage

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