Shop Small Saturday will return Saturday, Nov. 26.
This is the second of two Shop Small Saturday events held in Mount Vernon and Lisbon this year.
Shop Small headquarters will be at The Nourishing Root in uptown Mount Vernon.
Committee chair Catherine Kennedy said the Shop Small effort has had a long history in Mount Vernon and Lisbon, starting back with the original Shop Small weekend that premiered in 2012, and grown.
“During the pandemic years, the committee organized three separate shop small events in Mount Vernon and Lisbon, to benefit small businesses impacted by closures earlier in the pandemic,” Kennedy said. “Last year, the committee held two different shop small events because of the popularity and the disruption to supply chains.”
It’s why the committee opted for two Shop Small Saturday events again this year.
The first Shop Small Saturday event Saturday, Nov. 5, was seen as a huge success, with many in attendance, despite the rainy and cold weather in uptown Mount Vernon.
Like the first event, an early bird drawing will be held, where an early shopper will receive a bag with community cash in it.
At the top of each hour, a name will be drawn to win community cash from people who register at Shop Small headquarters. That winner will receive a call on their cell phone and have 10 minutes to return to the booth or the prize will roll over to the next hour’s winner. At the bottom of the hour, a winner will receive a gift certificate or other prizes from area businesses and has to come to Shop Small Headquarters to claim it as well.
“We’ve only been able to host these events continually thanks to the tremendous response from the community,” Kennedy said.
As well, two area businesses will host vendor fairs in uptown Mount Vernon during Shop Small weekend. Mount Vernon Creates will host a fair at its storefront from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Katrina Anderson, with Wake-Up Iowa Coffee, has also lined up several of the vendors who previously distributed at the Mount Vernon Farmer’s Market to hold a pop-up market called Shop Smaller Saturday that will be held Shop Small Saturday and again on Saturday, Dec. 10, at First Street Community Center Gym.