Shop local and win: With Passport program, prizes available for visiting Turners Falls businesses

TURNERS FALLS — Coming off the coattails of the business Passport programs in Northfield and Shelburne Falls, the Turners Falls version seeks to boost foot traffic to downtown businesses through March 31, with $800 worth of prizes available.

Twenty businesses and organizations are participating, and will have free “Passports” for people to pick up and use as a guide for shopping in the village.

Each time a person visits a participating location, they will receive a unique holepunch on their Passport, making it easy to track how many businesses someone has visited. Those who visit at least 10 of the participating locations will be eligible for a small gift basket, and patrons who make all 20 stops will be eligible for a large gift basket.

Once a patron’s Passport is filled out, it can be dropped off at a participating business or a photo of it can be submitted online. The Passports feature a map to help participants navigate between businesses.

Prizes include gift certificates and merchandise from local businesses. The top prize is a gift basket valued at more than $600, featuring gift cards to restaurants like Dreamhouse, The Rendezvous and Cocina Lupita’s new Turners Falls location, as well as retail businesses like LOOT found + made and Sadie’s Bikes. Winners will be randomly selected on April 15.

Some of the 20 participating locations include retail stores like LOOT found + made, Richie Richardson FAB, Music Connection and Breakdown Records; food and restaurant locations like Dreamhouse, Cocina Lupita, The Upper Bend and Avenue A Market; along with art, outdoors and home services businesses.

The Passport program is organized by the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce and is an initiative of the Turners Falls Downtown Working Group, which works with Downtown District Coordinator Christian LaPlante. The working group is made up of business owners, municipal officials, nonprofit leaders and other stakeholders who are interested in supporting the growth of downtown Turners Falls as part of a year-long pilot program, called the Rural Downtown Revitalization project. The same effort is also taking place in Shelburne Falls and Northfield.

LaPlante said the Passport program proved successful in Shelburne Falls and Northfield during the holidays last year. Now that the weather has been getting warmer, it makes sense to bring the program to Turners Falls during a period of lower foot traffic.

“Leveraging our success from the busy holiday shopping season to increase foot traffic in Turners Falls during the typically slower month of March just makes sense,” LaPlante said in a statement. “Turners Falls has a bounty of great shops and restaurants to explore.”

Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Jessye Deane said that whenever someone spends $100 in Franklin County, $68 of that stays within the community, compared to when someone shops online, which retains less than $15 locally.

“This program is 100% community-driven. Businesses told us they needed help getting more people through their doors, and this delivers — every holepunch is a visit, every visit is a conversation and every conversation is a chance to make a sale or earn a loyal customer,” Deane said in a statement. “With more than $800 in prizes on the line, folks are excited to participate, but the real winners are our local businesses.”

One of the participating businesses is Sadie’s Bikes, owned by Nik Perry. Perry has been involved in the downtown revitalization process, and said that a Passport program like this goes beyond just monetarily supporting a local business.

“You can see real change by letting local business owners know what you’re looking for and what would be helpful to you,” he said in a statement about the importance of shopping local. “Face-to-face interactions create a community.”

A list of participating businesses is available at moretofranklincounty.com/passport.