ORANGE — Several businesses are teaming up to advertise each other — and spreading a little holiday cheer at the same time.
This Friday and Saturday, six Orange businesses are throwing the Orange Merchants Easter Egg Hunt for local families.
Trail Head Outfitters and General Store and Miller’s River Cafe at 1 South Main St., Home Fruit Wine at 382 South Main St., Mom’s Country Kitchen at 217 East Main St., Athol Credit Union at 85 East Main St. and Grrr Gear Inc. at 334 East Main St. are participating in the Easter celebration.
Workers in the participating businesses will be hiding Easter eggs inside their buildings. Inside those eggs will be treasures for children and adults.
The eggs’ contents will vary. Some will be traditional candy-filled eggs, while others could contain coupons, gift cards or items normally for sale at the participating stores, according to organizer Chris Noyes.
Noyes, who works at firearms, hunting and outdoor sporting store Grrr Gear Inc., said ideally the contents of one businesses hidden eggs will lead the egg-hunter to another business.
However, to keep things fun and fair, the workers will be selecting the pre-filled eggs at random before placing them around their stores, and even they won’t know what is inside them.
“It’s a little bit of cross-advertising and getting people to know the businesses in town,” Noyes said.
Last year, the first year of the event, Noyes said some children found vouchers for some delicious desserts after scavenging for eggs in the gun shop.
“There was one little boy who found a card for a free hot fudge sundae from Millers River Cafe and he was absolutely thrilled,” Noyes said.
“They had a blast,” she added.
Paul Anderson, of Trail Head Outfitters and General Store, said he appreciates the event being a simple way for different businesses to support each other.
“It’s a really simple process we can throw together quickly every year,” Anderson said. “And it’s nice.”
Noyes is in the process of collecting items each business is contributing to the hunt and putting them in eggs, hopefully later to draw customers to the participants’ stores and make some families happy.
Reach David McLellan at dmclellan@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 268.