Communities prepare for Small Business Saturday
Small Business Saturday is a day dedicated to “buying local,” and some area communities are promoting the day with special events intended to help boost sales.
The city of Washington will kick off the day with a breakfast crawl starting at 9:30 a.m. Saturday. Check-in will be at the Main Street Pavilion, and “passports” will be scattered throughout town. Patrons visit participating businesses to get their passport stamped. Once the passport is completed, it’s returned to the pavilion for an entry in a raffle to win a downtown gift basket.
“The breakfast crawl is over 10 locations, 10 stops around downtown,” said Shana Brown, Main Street Manager, adding that bonus stops are included this year.
As part of the festivities, a partnership has been formed with Toys for Tots.
“If you bring a toy and drop it off in the bin for Toys for Tots, you get a freebie space on the passport for the breakfast crawl,” Brown said.
Small Business Saturday was first observed in the United States in November 2010. Shoppers are encouraged to patronize businesses that are small and local.
The event returned to Washington in 2021 after a one-year absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
One of last year’s most popular attractions was the children’s area in the pavilion.
“The children’s area really caught us off guard last year; we didn’t expect it to be as big as it was,” Brown said. “We had a really good turnout for the puppet show and wanted to expand on that.”
Along with the puppet show, there will be appearances by the Rowdy Ladybug, a group that specializes in creative, interpretive play, and Mr. Conductor, who will read “The Polar Express.” There also will be stations for making reindeer food, decorating cookies and ornaments, as well as one for writing letters to Santa, who also will be available for pictures.
“The ornaments that the kids decorate are going to be put on the float (for the Christmas parade),” Brown said, which is scheduled for Friday, Dec. 2. A “naughty and nice list” will also be compiled for the float.
Vendors will be stationed at a number of locations, such as Ignite, the Table, the Washington County Historical Society and Venue 19 North, which will have its first-ever Winter Farmer’s Market featuring live music and a gift-wrapping station.
Vendors also will be at the Bradford House, where a docent will be cooking in the outside kitchen cabin.
“It really is, across the board, a community event,” Brown said.
The Canonsburg community is also celebrating Small Business Saturday, with daytime shopping and evening merriment.
Local stores, dressed in their holiday best, will offer specials during holiday business hours before establishments open for the town’s first Jingle Bar Hop, which runs from 4 to 11 p.m.
“Our Christmas committee, we’ve always wanted to do a pop-up Christmas bar,” said Lisa Scarmazzi, Canonsburg Borough’s director of economic development. “I approached the Bar Association owners and threw the idea at them, and they just ran with it.”
Each of the six participating bars – Last Call, Rusty Gold Brewing, Bar Association, Silver Mark Cellars, Big Fella’s and The Hofbrau – decked their halls in favorite holiday film decor. The Polar Express Shuttle is available to take VIPs from stop to stop, and each bar will feature a special drink and food menu in keeping with their Christmas movie motif.
“A $20 donation at your first stop gives you a pass to the Polar Express and exclusives that bars are offering,” said Scarmazzi, noting the donation will go to a local charity.
The evening was inspired by a popular Pittsburgh bar, Miracle on Liberty, which glitters from floor to ceiling with Christmas lights, tinsel, garland and the works.
“We see the amount of folks that go to these pop-up bars and we thought, how wonderful would it be to have something like that in Canonsburg,” Scarmazzi said.
For more on the Jingle Bar Hop, visit https://www.canonsburgboro.com/community/page/canonsburgs-jingle-bar-hop.
Peters Township Chamber of Commerce does its best to promote what its businesses have planned for Small Business Saturday.
“We’ll post that on all social media platforms,” said Kelly Caldwell, executive administrator.
Caldwell said the chamber has supplied a graphic to the businesses to hang in their window, and patrons should take a picture near the graphic or with a receipt of their purchase on Saturday, tag the business and post with #ptchambersbs to social media.
“Those that do that are entered for a mystery basket,” Caldwell said.
In Greene County, the recognition of small businesses actually began in early November, as the chamber of commerce promotes the idea of “shop small, shop local.”
“We receive a package from American Express each year,” said Melody Longstreth, executive director. “It doesn’t give me enough for all of my retailers, but we try to send 10 different retailers in the area one of the packages.” The packages contain shopping bags, signage and posters to help promote the idea of shopping small.
“We promote all year long to try to encourage people to shop small,” Longstreth said.
One such promotion is the annual Christmas Gift Card and Cash Raffle for a raffle ticket for $3,550 of gift cards and gift certificates, as well as Christmas cash for local businesses.
“The idea is that this will hopefully drive the winner into these stores to use these gift certificates and hopefully spend more or give them as gifts so that it spreads them even further,” Longstreth said.
Staff writer Katherine Mansfield contributed to this story.