Shop Local Festival To Drive Home The Importance Of Supporting Small Businesses

The Pasadena Business Association (PBA) is expanding its calendar with a new signature event in 2018, and this time, it’s an event with a mission — the inaugural Pasadena Shop Local Festival, set for Saturday, June 16, will emphasize the benefits of supporting locally owned small businesses while delivering a fun-filled day for all members of the family. From 10:00am to 2:00pm, community members can stop by Lakeshore Plaza to enjoy a variety of activities, do some shopping, and meet the people behind some of their favorite local restaurants, shops and services.

“I love the activities that get the community and the businesses together because that’s what the Pasadena Businesses Association is all about,” said Paulette Morris of Idea Weaver Promotions, who co-chairs the PBA’s Shop Local committee along with Mike Dacre of HomeTown Exterior House Cleaning. “We’re not just about selling products. We’re here to support the community.”

Over the past few months, Morris and other PBA members have been actively recruiting vendors and entertainers to participate in this first-ever festival for Pasadena. Attendees will be able to browse the vendor booths of more than 20 local businesses, many of which will have goods for sale, giving people the chance for a one-stop shopping experience.

Entertainment for the day will include performances and demonstrations from local organizations, games and prizes, face painting, temporary tattoos for kids, and guest appearances from characters and mascots. There will be a make-and-take crafts tent for children to create photo frames and cards for their friends or family members. Visitors can even take selfies in a photo booth. All attendees will leave the event with a free goodie bag filled with products and coupons.

In keeping with part of the PBA’s mission to give back to the community, the Shop Local Festival will collect nonperishable food goods for families in need. Attendees are encouraged to bring canned or boxed items to drop off for distribution to people living right in Pasadena.

As the big day approaches, vendor slots are filling up quickly. PBA members interested in the opportunity to sell, exhibit and network should contact Morris at paulette@ideaweaver.com. Community members who are eager to meet members of the PBA, find out about its mission and learn all the ways shopping local keeps a community strong and vibrant should mark their calendars for June 16. For more information, visit www.pasadenabusinessassociation.com.

“We hope people will take away the importance of shopping local because what you spend in Pasadena stays in Pasadena,” Morris said. “It supports jobs, local businesses can pay their employees, employees can spend their money and support their families and things they’re involved with. … But if you don’t buy local, the local businesses can’t make it.”

Participating vendors in the Pasadena Shop Local Festival include:

Costello’s Ace Hardware of Pasadena, Platinum Sponsor

Huff Insurance, Gold Sponsor

Idea Weaver Promotions, Silver Sponsor

Icon Beauty Lounge, Silver Sponsor

Century 21 Don Gurney, Silver Sponsor

Pasadena Eyecare, Silver Sponsor

Misty Clean, Silver Sponsor

New Life Addiction Counseling Services Inc., Bronze Sponsor

UPS Store at the Shops at Riviera Beach, Bronze Sponsor

Arundel Federal Savings Bank, Celebree Learning Centers, Mosquito Squad of Annapolis, Mount Carmel Child Development Center, Brow Craft Boutique, Pampered Chef, Peyton-Harris Team of Coldwell Banker, Chesapeake Christian Learning Center, Bay Vanguard Federal Savings Bank, Judy Bart of Avon, David Moore & Associates with Coldwell Banker, Texas Roadhouse, Partners in Care,

10 REASONS TO SHOP LOCAL

10. Support Entrepreneurship

Creativity and entrepreneurship are what fuel America’s economic innovation and prosperity. The success of locally owned independent businesses provides real-life examples to young people, proving they can stay in their hometown and prosper through hard work and ingenuity.

9. Maintain Local Decision Making

Local ownership means important decisions are made locally by people who live in the community and feel the impact of those decisions.

8. Enjoy Selections Geared To Local Tastes And Needs

Local businesses have a wider array of uniquely focused products because they buy and sell based on what they know local customers want and need, creating more relevant choices.

7. Investment In Your Community

Local business owners are people who live here, work here and invest in the community with their time and energy, as well as their dollars.

6. Keep Our Community Unique

Where we shop, eat and go for entertainment helps make our community home. Our one-of-a-kind businesses are an integral part of the distinctive character of our community.

5. Support Community Well-Being

Locally owned businesses build strong neighborhoods by sustaining communities, linking neighbors and contributing to many local causes.

4. Get Better Service

In a local business, you know the people behind the counter, and they know you. They have a deep understanding of the products they’re selling and they take time to serve their customers.

3. Create Jobs In Our Community

Small, local businesses are the largest employers nationally and in our community, providing the most jobs to residents. Locally owned businesses are far less likely to pull up stakes and move operations to another city, state or country, taking their jobs with them.

2. Locally Owned Businesses Support Community Groups

Nonprofit organizations receive an average of 350 percent more support from local business owners than they do from non-locally owned businesses.

1. Keep Money In Our Neighborhood

For every $100 spent in locally owned independent stores, $68 returns to the community through taxes, payroll and other expenditures. This purchasing choice vs. other purchasing options keeps the most money in the area, and these dollars continue to flow through our community!