Loyal to Local Holiday Passport Is Back!

Did you hear?

The Jamestown Area Chamber of Commerce’s Loyal to Local Holiday Passport is back for the gift giving season!

It’s easier than ever to support our amazing local businesses AND enter in for a chance to win some great prizes, too.

Here’s everything you need to know! 

How to Participate in the Local to Loyal Passport Program

Step One: Get a Passport. Pick one (or more!) up at the Chamber Office, Zimmerman’s Furniture, or any participating business. Be sure to add your name and contact info on the first page, as it's how we call you if you win!

Step Two: Shop local and collect those stamps. After each purchase, the business stamps their page in your passport based on what you spent. Stamps run from $5 to $50 on that business’s page. 

Hot tip: Shopping on Small Business Saturday (November 29) is the perfect time to rack those stamps up!

Step Three: Complete your Passport. Collect at least $250 in stamps from a minimum of five different businesses. You may complete and turn in more than one passport.

Step Four: Turn it in. Drop completed passports at the Chamber Office or in the drop box at Zimmerman’s Furniture. Cross your fingers and hope that you’ll be the lucky winner of one of the amazing prizes up for grabs!

“There are all kinds of great prizes this year such as an upright freezer, a Coleman motorbike, jewelry, power tools, a tool cart, apparel, and the best gift of all, gift cards to numerous local businesses,” said Jamestown Area Chamber of Commerce Membership Relations Manager Vincent Kloubec. “Winners do not pick which specific prize they receive, it’s a drawing, but that just adds to the fun! Chamber Bucks, spendable at any chamber member business, are also in the prize pool.

Fun fact: The highest number of passports turned in by one person was 19, which accounted for $4,750 in local spending. Wow! 

Hot Tips for New Participants

New to the game? No worries! The Chamber has a few great tips to help you make your mark:

Tip One: Remember, you can keep shopping after you fill one passport. Just grab another! Each completed book is another entry.

Tip Two: Gift cards count, too! Even if you're not planning on using the product/service while the program runs, a gift card purchase is still a purchase.

Tip Three: Track your purchases as they happen in the back page of your passport. This will help you keep track of how close you are to the $250 goal.

Tip Four: Don’t forget that you can combine passports, as long as they're turned in at the same time.

For example: Passport 1 ($50 Cash Wise, $50 Walmart, $50 M&H) and Passport 2 ($50 The Full Monte, $50 Arby's) satisfy the requirements for ONE entry to win. Just be sure to attach the combined passports together.

Tip Five: Have fun! Know that when you shop local, your community wins!

“People get very competitive with this program, which we’re always happy to see! We love to see posts online of people getting together and doing their passports together, knocking out some shopping and tracking their spending,” said Kloubec. “We encourage participants to track their spending in the back of their passport as it occurs so that they know when a passport can be turned in.”

Still have questions? Hoping your business can participate next year? Send an email to Vincent or give him a buzz at 701-252-4830.

“The Jamestown Area Chamber of Commerce is so proud of its members that have chosen to be a part of the Loyal to Local Holiday Passport this year! Loyal to Local is a great opportunity for businesses to participate in a program that does what its name suggests: keeps local money local during the holiday season,” said Kloubec. 

“This program would not be possible without Chamber members participating as stamping locations. Thank you as always to the 77 businesses that are participating this year, and special thanks to the 18 new participants this year, like 201 Aesthetics, Chopsticks Express, Corner Bar & Grill, Hugo’s Family Marketplace, Hugo’s Wine and Spirits, Jerry’s Furniture, Luxury Nail Spa, M&H Gas Station, Maurices, Medallus Medical/Prime IV, Nature’s Healing Links, Northwest Tire, Runnings, Sooper Stop/Caffeinated Prairie, Stutsman Harley Davidson, Tapps Restaurant & Bar, The Depot, and Tractor Supply Company.”

When You Shop Local… 

Speaking of “winning,” have you ever wondered if shopping local actually makes a difference?

It absolutely does! Reports have found that for every $100 spent at a locally-owned business, a whopping $73 remains in that community.

Compare that to the $43 that remains when purchasing from a corporate chain. When multiplied over and over, that $30 difference has a massive impact.

Each of those dollars support Jamestown with increased tax revenue, which helps us improve our services and infrastructure while also providing jobs for folks, too.

Small businesses are truly the heartbeat of North Dakota’s economy, making up 98.9% of all businesses and employing almost 200,000 people. That’s over 57% of the state’s entire workforce! And those independent locally-owned businesses recirculate 48% of their revenue locally compared to 13% by corporate chains.

Dollar for dollar, when you shop local, you support economic growth, job creation, and one-of-a-kind restaurants and shops that add a vibrant dimension to our community.