NAMPA, Idaho (KBOI) — The Nampa community officially kicked off the holiday season with their downtown Christmas Tree lighting on Saturday.
The event benefited the city in more than one way, it also brought a national movement to our area.
As families came out to see the 2500 lights brighten up the 45-foot tall Blue Spruce, local businesses hoped to attract some Thanksgiving weekend shoppers.
"We wanted people to come downtown and shop locally so we combined it with our Christmas tree lighting. So we brought in some entertainment to bring that local movement to downtown," Assistant Economics Director for the City of Nampa, Robin Collins, said.
The annual celebration was planned with small businesses in downtown Nampa to get shoppers involved in Small Business Saturday. A day, unlike Black Friday, designed to promote small, family owned businesses.
“In our downtown core it’s almost entirely small business owners,” Coordinator for the Downtown Nampa Association, Morgan Treasure said. “We do a lot of activities, sponsorship's for the shop small event because we want to support our small businesses.”
Treasure says the economic impact of shopping small can be great for a small community like Nampa.
“Any money that’s spent down here goes directly to supporting the family run businesses that are down here and those families just turn right around and invest that money into the community,” Treasure said.
This is the second year they have combined the tree lighting with Small Business Saturday, and it was definitely successful.
There were free horse carriage rides, a speech from Mayor Bob Henry, and even an appearance from Santa himself.
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