News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Jena Rickards sang with John Morton at Clearwater Gallery during the final Red Bow Friday event.
With red bows hanging on the doors of some 30 downtown businesses, merchants tried this holiday season to entice shoppers to shop locally by offering special discounts and extended hours on Friday nights.
While the literal effects of the Red Bow promotion were mixed, the downtown merchants seem pleased overall with the feeling the program engendered.
"I thought it was great," said Janet Brockway, owner of Bedouin.
Brockway said the Friday night extended hours weren't the main impact: "It was just a way of telling people it's great to support your local (merchants)."
Amanda MacNaughton at Paulina Springs Books said the extended Friday hours didn't have much impact until the Friday before Christmas, but she said there was a definite "buy local" spirit in the air.
Julia Rickards conceived of the promotion to partake of and promote that spirit.
Rickards, who owns Clearwater Gallery with her husband Dan, figured locals might need a little help and encouragement to make good on the notion.
"I just thought it was our responsibility to make it simple for them to shop in Sisters," she said at the start of the program.
"To me it wasn't just about equaling sales, it was about providing a service, creating community," Rickards said in evaluating the project.
Clearwater Gallery hosted small parties on each of the Friday nights, capping the season with an evening featuring a performance by her daughter Jena Rickards, who is studying music in Nashville.
Rickards said her feedback from merchants indicates that advertising the event encouraged local shopping, even though most of it fell in regular business hours.
For some, a demonstration of the power of cooperative effort is the biggest benefit from the program.
"It's nice to see the business community get together and think about cooperative marketing efforts," said Todd Dow of High Desert Gallery. "I think that's the biggest thing that comes out of this: that businesses become aware that if they work together they are more effective."
Rickards believes that spark of common effort should be nurtured among merchants and customers alike.
"Just building a sense of community in the downtown is ... something that needs to be focused on," she said.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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