Being hipster has been the cool, new thing for a while now and the novelty has yet to wear off. Teenagers, adults, even old people are turning to the lifestyle and the look of this happenin’ subculture. To participate fully, there are a few rules to follow.

1. Wear flannel (or snarky t-shirts).
2. Be vegan.

Just kidding! There’s actually just one, simple rule you have to follow, and that’s Live Local. You see, hipster culture places a high value on authenticity and creativity. The rule can be broken down further to ensure understanding: Shop Local. Eat Local. Drink Local.

Aside from growing a beard, that’s it. By following these rules, you’ll subsequently acquire the necessary hipster gear and look – so don’t worry about that. Now, let’s expound on the rules a little more, and I’ll teach you how to hipster in Marion County.

• Shop Local

Regardless of how hipster the store actually is, supporting friends, family and neighbors is a tenet in the hipster value system. But, if you’d like, you can take it a step further by shopping at hipster-specific places such as…

Assumption Records: Records from today. Records from way back when. Records from unknown musicians. You can hipster here in so many ways.

Rustic Woods of WV: This is the crossroads of creativity and authenticity. Give your home, loft, studio apartment (whatever your hipster living situation) the hipster look by shopping at Rustic Woods. Every item is handcrafted there from West Virginia wood.

These next businesses are more than just shopping locally; it speaks to the hipster culture of being weird and being healthy…

Health Naturally: Focus on adding ethically sourced supplements to your diet along with locally raised meats and many other hipster essentials (think quinoa, cacao, liquid aminos, gluten-free bread and coconut sugar).

Creekside Country Market: Not only does buying from Creekside support local business, but you truly get to know the source of the products: Amish Country!

Speedway Market: This is a great place to find vegetarian options, produce and foods for your big and small pets.

Farmers Market: Don’t just support local business, support local farmers. Get produce, beeswax candles and cupcakes while enjoying community at the riverfront. (Don’t forget to bring your own reusable bag or buy one there!)

Second-hand stores and antique stores might not seem hipster, but they are! Why? Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Hipsters are pretty aware of carbon footprints, oceanic plastic waste and the minimalist way of life. What better way is there not to participate in mainstream style and produce more waste than to shop pre-owned?

Savvy Consignment: The clothes might not all scream hipster, but the fact that they’re being reused is more than enough.

Sweet Memories Antiques: Refuse to allow more factories to increase pollution by producing unnecessary items and buy sweet things already made decades ago.

Arts and Antiques Marketplace: Jump out of the mainstream culture and use typewriters, record players, polaroids and other things that are essentially obsolete. You don’t get any more authentic than the original!

Pawntiques Emporium: This is the place to go if you’re trying to avoid paying into corporate bank accounts without sacrificing product quality. Get guitars, vintage signs, jewelry and furniture made to last.

• Eat Local

This rule is the best part about being hipster in my personal opinion! When it comes to eating, going to any local place is the hipster way. Take it a step further and start eating at the local hipster places. (You’ll know them by their beards.)

Street Food Kitchen: This is the newest addition to Marion’s hipster scene. Locally sourced ingredients are used to make globally inspired food. Korean Barbeque, kimchi, adobe pork belly tacos, chicharrones, pizzelles are just a few of the seasonal and global foods.

Rambling Root: Enjoy a hipster take on European cuisine. Go Polish, German and delicious all at once. If dumplings, pork schnitzels, and tempura fried catfish aren’t hipster enough for you, I don’t know what is.

Little Red Hen: The owner does not have a beard, but she used to be a farmer, which is pretty hipster. This place has delicious food, but the hipster part about this place is the atmosphere (and paninis).

Noteworthy Sweets: Not only is the food local, but it’s constantly changing. Fresh and seasonal signals authentic and local. Roasted beet and blue cheese salad, open face meatball and eggplant sandwich, apple, and goat cheese crostini are just a few hipster options served.

Blueberry Ridge Farm: What could be more hipster than harvesting your own food? Pick some organic (hipster) blueberries yourself and enjoy supporting a local farmer!

• Drink Local.

This is a big one! Drinking locally made liquids like craft beer and coffee, drinking what you made or what your friends made is as local as it gets. So go make friends at …

Rambling Root: Don’t just drink local. Drink regional. Drink West Virginia. Craft beer is constantly flowing in from all parts of the state. But it’s not just your hackneyed hipster beer; try some lavender kombucha or gluten-free beers.

Short Story Brewing: Drink extremely local. Short Story makes their own IPA’s, stouts and other hipster libations complete with hipster names: My Friends Call Me Red, Two for The Show and Sideways Glance give you an idea of the level of hipster that inhabits this place.

Joe n’ Throw: Beer may be the new wine, but coffee is still caffeinated. Get your hipster coffee here: nitros, cold brews, matcha lattes, lavender chai teas and half-caff venti hazelnut upside down macchiatos with macadamia milk.

Stone Tower Joe: This is where the coffee comes from. Locally roasted beans from a local bearded guy. Fresh, organic and fair trade – what could be more hipster?

Mountain Dragon Mazery: Another local bearded guy has teamed up with a bunch of bees to produce the only mead in the area (also known as honey wine). Drink West Virginia wildflowers and West Virginia honey from one glass of hipster honey wine.

• Live Local.

Inside-

Main Street Yoga: This is where hipsters can truly individualize their tastes: Reiki class, Strength Yoga, Vinyasa, Restorative, Flow+Yin and Happy Hour Yoga. But be careful, this might just be a ploy to get a bunch of hipsters in the same room at the same time.

What fuels your aesthetic? The mountains? The people? The art? You don’t need to go to Prague to hone your skills.

Nativibes: Take your hipster love of nature and use it to fuel your hipster love of art. ‘Explore your weird,’ is the tagline, but I’m sure you can also explore your hipsterness here, too.

Joe n’ Throw: This hipster place is more than hipster coffee, hipster food, and hipster beer. Learn how to throw things on a pottery wheel- it’s very Molly Jensen in Ghost but, you know, without the violence… or Patrick Swayze. So take cues from the bearded guy with a man-bun (a very serious hipster) or just buy what he’s made even more hipster: West Fork Pottery.

Mountain Creative: If you’d like to skip the pottery part and go straight for painting, this is where to do it. Plus, you now have a very cool, locally made (by you!) hipster coffee tumbler, plate, pineapple, tea set, and a million other options for hipster hipness.

Outside-

Dog Park: Rescuing a dog from the Marion County Humane Society and treating it like a little hipster is so hipster.

Rail Trails: You can’t be authentic in West Virginia unless you’re in the woods. Rail Trails provide the perfect hike into hipster-dom.

Valley Falls: Fill your Instagram with the most hipster of pictures from Marion’s most authentic West Virginian experience.

There are plenty more ways to hipster in Marion (it’s even a hipster name!), but this should get you started. Enjoy the flannel, the beards, the veganism (yeah right) and, best of all, Marion.

 

Where is your favorite hipster hangout?