Happy Halloween everyone! I hope you have found a safe and fun way to celebrate with your favorite sweet treats. My trusty companion Winnie the Pooch is going to be spared the super adorable costume that would sure to put her in a canine self-esteem spiral. She may be relieve to escape the costumes and photos but with the passing of each of our canceled or adjusted events this year, we humans may find ourselves less and less connected to our friends, neighbors and coworkers. With every turn this year we have been faced with the disappointment of not being able to participate in our annual events. Rolling in to Christmas is no different. All the spender of the Christmas season is of course going to look and sound different.
We hope that looking different is a good thing! Knowing that all of us were going to be grasping for ways to keep the holiday spirit alive, a committee of chamber ambassadors came together to come up with our seasonal concept that would encourage local shopping, give back to the community through use of Monroe Money, provide COVID-19 safe activities for people to do over the Holidays and increase community spirit. That emerged from our very productive meeting was “T’was the Lights before Christmas.”
We came up with three ways to accomplish our goals. First is our “City-Wide Christmas lighting” contest. Years ago, the Christmas Lighting contest was very popular. We felt no better time than now to bring back a version that would keep people in the spirit of the Holidays. We’re encouraging everyone who has a flare for the festive to participate in on one of the four themes. Thanks to the generosity of First National Bank and Trust, we are able to make this more than a contest of pride. Each week in December we will announce winners from both the residential and business contests. Winners will receive $50.00 in Monroe Money to spend. All contestants will get a fancy sign to post in their yard or in their store front so people can check them out. We will have a “Star Gazers” map created so families can take a drive around Monroe to check out the bright light displays.
The second step to help everyone out is our “Monroe Money 2020 Cash Out” promotion. We are offering a chance to receive and extra bonus with your spending this year. For each $100.00 in Monroe Money you purchase, you will receive an additional $20.00 courtesy of the Monroe Chamber of Commerce and Industry. It goes without saying that every penny counts this year. And we want to make sure our businesses are able to keep their doors open well past the New Year. Putting and extra $20.00 in your pocket helps you and having that money spent Monroe to keep our businesses stay open is the added bonus.
We also wanted to make sure that we are offering reduced contact and more convenient ways to purchase Monroe Money. In addition to our friendly, face to face option, we now have a Monroe Money tab on our website where you can order Monroe Money and schedule it for pick up. We also accept Credit card payments.
Finally, we wanted to keep spirits high by breaking through what is traditionally the darkest day of the year. On Sunday, December 20th, we will be holding a “Welcome Winter Solstice” drive thru event at Twining Park. We hope to spread a bit of holiday cheer and maybe a magical appearance or two to help put smiles on the faces of children of all ages.
We look forward to being part of the joy of the holidays this year for as many people as we can. Join us for one or all of these amazing opportunities to make the next couple of months feel as warm as possible. Details on each event and Sponsorship opportunities are available by contacting us at the Chamber of Commerce office at 1505 9th Street or by checking out our website monroechamber.org.
— Melissa Even is the executive director for the Monroe Chamber of Commerce. She can be reached at melissa@monroechamber.org.
