Celebrate Thursday, shop local Saturday

However you spend your Thanksgiving, take a moment to give thanks for someone or something. Be thankful for friends, family, fur babies, a roof over your head, food on your table, your job, etc. Even if all these do not apply, be thankful for the ones that do.

As Friday rolls around, we enter the Christmas shopping season, full steam ahead.

Locally we have our own Merry Christmas Market giveaway going on. Black Friday is Nov. 25 followed by Small Business Saturday on Nov. 26, a relatively new American tradition. While Black Friday has been an informal holiday for more than 60 years, it wasn’t until 2010 that the Saturday after Thanksgiving earned its official title, designating it as a day to shop local and support hometown retailers.

Small businesses are still struggling to rebound from challenges they faced for a few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so it may be more critical than ever to shop local. In fact, many locally owned retailers earn upwards of 50 percent of annual revenues during the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

In so many ways, small businesses act as the glue that holds our communities together. They fund the local tax base, finance local nonprofits and charitable organizations, and create good jobs that boost the overall marketplace. By backing our locally-owned small businesses, you support the thousands of jobs they create and the families they sustain.

As members of a small community, all of us can give in a variety of ways.

Locally, consider donating or participating in the Senior Angel Tree, Christmas Baskets, Elf Tree, the Dino Center giveaway benefiting Safe Haven, Christmas Tree Festival or any other community program that benefits our citizens. Look for info on these programs in this and future editions of the IR.

However you choose to help out, your community will be thankful.