The Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce has its second Sweet Christmas Spirit event beginning December 1, to treat local shoppers to prizes of sweets and wine.
Heather Johnson of the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce says Sweet Christmas Spirit was created last year as a way to showcase downtown Fort Frances.
Shoppers in downtown Fort Frances can watch for the entry boxes at local merchants, which enters into the draw.
“We ran our first Sweet Christmas Spirit last year,” said Johnson. “It’s a joint effort by the downtown BIA and the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce.”
Johnson recalls how the event came together at a board meeting to address waning traffic downtown.
“One of the things that we had come up with was that the Flint House bottles its own wine,” said Johnson. “So, last year, they donated 12 bottles of wine from the Flint house, and the BIA purchased the chocolates. We thought, ‘Why don’t we just give this a run that we say thank you to the people who do shop locally?”
Thus, the Sweet Christmas Spirit event was born.
“We had a huge box full of names at the end. When I went uptown, and I collected all the drop boxes, we had exceptional support from the people that were out shopping,” said Johnson. “Everybody who I dropped off the wine and chocolates to was very appreciative.”
Sweet Christmas Spirit continues this year to serve as a way to thank the community for continuing to shop locally in Fort Frances.
“We were trying to find a way to hold an event that wasn’t a lot of work on anybody’s part, but it was something that we could say thanks to the people with,” said Johnson. “We thought this was just a fairly easy way. I like to get out and visit the businesses around Christmas time and say hi.”
Not only was it fairly easy to implement, but Johnson says there was a good response from the community and it’s always nice to have a treat.
“[People] had a positive response to it,” said Johnson. “So it was good all the way around. It’s a nice treat at Christmas. If you have somebody drop in it’s good to have a nice bottle of wine and the chocolates that you can put out.”
Lastly, Johnson hopes to make the event into an annual tradition but emphasizes the need for local businesses to sponsor the event.
“I would like this to certainly be a yearly event, as does the BIA,” said Johnson. “This year the wine is coming from Standard Insurance. If more businesses are interested in becoming involved in it, it’s just a really nice thing.”
