ARCADIA, Fla. — Small businesses in Downtown Arcadia are rallying together for an important cause.
“We were a little skeptical at first," said Arcadia Main Street Program Executive Director Pam Ames. "We didn’t really know the ins and outs of it, but we decided it would be a good thing to at least try.”
Forty three businesses are participating in the new downtown passport event that runs from Aug. 19 to Sept. 7.
You can watch FOX 4's Victoria Scott's report on the event here:
Shoppers are handed a passport when they walk into stores.
“They go from store to store, and that way, they visit each store," said Miss Patty's Consignments Owner Patty Ellison. "They stamp it, and it’s like going into a new world.”
Every purchase equals stamps on the passport.
Those passports are later dropped off at Arcadia Main Street where they will be entered into weekly raffles.
“We just did a drawing, and it was for a night at our downtown hotel, the Oak Park Inn," Ames said. "We’re doing a gift basket from different stores with gift certificates.”
The biggest prize is winning $500 in downtown bucks.
Business owners told Arcadia Community Correspondent Victoria Scott that they believe this is a great way to grow the local economy.
“What that does for me as the business owner, is I can take those bucks, take them to Main Street, and right away they can write me a check for that amount of money that was spent and purchased," said Glass Antique or Not Manger Toni Badovinac. "What it’s doing is it’s helping keep the money people bring into town in town.”
Ames told Scott that more than $7,000 was spent in the first week. She also said more than 100 passports were included in the initial raffle.
Ames also says she hopes to have another downtown passport event around Christmas.
