A big deal for small business

Shopping online has its place. It can be fast. It can be convenient. And, it can be dry.

But the owners of large online shopping websites don’t pay for T-shirts for Toledo youth basketball. They don’t coach Lincoln City youth soccer teams. They don’t sponsor scoreboards at Newport High School, volunteer at Waldport’s Beachcomber Days or sponsor the Yachats Mushroom Festival.

In short, there’s no substitute for healthy businesses in a community, something worth bearing in mind this holiday shopping season.

To kick the season off, Lincoln County is celebrating these businesses with an all-day social media blitz on Small Business Saturday, Nov. 27.

When you go shopping on Small Business Saturday, take photos and videos at local shops and share your activity. The first 50 to tag their posts with #BuyLocalLincolnCounty will receive a free Buy Local travel coffee mug.

Majalise Tolan, director of secondary education at the Lincoln County School District, who regularly posts photos of herself and her family shopping local after Thanksgiving, has been a longtime advocate of the program.

“Lincoln County’s small businesses continually support community non-profits and are dedicated to seeing the county thrive,” she said. “Choosing to buy local first and showcase the amazing products in our own backyard are small ways to give back to the business owners who support us day in and day out.”

But wait, there’s more. Chambers of commerce from around the county are celebrating Small Business Saturday, too. Add hashtags for the chambers in the communities where you’re shopping to be entered to win gift baskets from them. For example, the Greater Newport Chamber of Commerce will select a winner from those who use “#ShopLocalNewportOregon” while the Lincoln City and Depoe Bay chambers will be on the lookout for their own hashtags — find them on their respective social media channels.

Post your photos and videos on Facebook, Instagram or TikTok, and don’t forget to add #BuyLocalLincolnCounty, along with the hashtag of the appropriate Lincoln County chamber of commerce, to celebrate our vibrant coastal business community — and to enter to win great prizes.

Coffee mug winners can pick up their prize at the Oregon Coast Community College anytime in December.

For more information, go to oregoncoast.edu/sbdc or call 541-994-4166.