Holiday Happenings 2021

The Downtown Rutland Holiday Stroll is Saturday, November 27th, between 9am to 5pm on Small Business Saturday. This is a great opportunity for you to get people in your door by offering something special to the community! Over 30 businesses participated in 2019, and most reported an increase both in sales and foot traffic.

What should I offer?

• Host a one-day sale or giveaway
• Offer hot chocolate, eggnog or other refreshments
• Demo a new product or something you make
• Include free gift wrapping or offer a gift with purchases
• Provide a tasting or sampling

Be creative! It’s your participation that will make this event a special day to kick off the holiday season. We'll provide maps to attendees with all the offerings and Santa will make an appearance at Wonderfeet Kids' Museum. Merchants should commit to participating by November 5th.

The Downtown Rutland Partnership is excited to share the return of the Holiday Window Decorating contest, which will run November 27th - December 17th. This year, we're adding holiday-themed categories and inviting local celebrities to judge in addition to hosting online voting for the people's choice award. Winners will be announced on a sponsored Facebook post on Friday, December 17th.

Requirements

• Businesses must sign up to let us know they’re participating

• Decorate windows by November 25th for the photographer to take photos of each location

• Clearly post the voting information flyer we provide in their windows

Official contest photos will be taken between 9am on November 26th and 7pm on November 27th. Please make sure your window is kept lit those evenings! But most windows are best viewed in the evening anyway, so we suggest keeping your windows lit through the evenings by use of timers.

Voting

Voting is limited to one entry per person. Voters can scan the code on the flyer in windows using their smartphone camera and clicking the link that pops up. This approach allows us to collect email addresses and grow our community newsletter audience. Plus, voters are entered in to win prizes of their own throughout the holiday season.

Questions? Email us at info@downtownrutland.com.

Shoppers have a lot on their minds this year - why not make gifting easy! The Downtown Rutland Partnership is creating a gift promotion featuring a variety of items from each retail shop. We'll pick up the items and have them professionally photographed and post their descriptions with prices in a digital gift guide available on our website.

How it Works

• Businesses (you) pick out an assortment of merchandise

• The DRP picks up those items and photographs them with a professional camera, background and lighting so that we can have consistent looking, high-quality images that will get people’s attention

• The DRP returns the items, and sends you the pictures

• Your product photo is used on our website, in holiday social media promotions and in a direct mailer going out to local households.

We also recommend putting these items on display, so customers can easily find them.

Please have your items ready for pickup by Friday, November 5th if you are participating.

Downtown Rutland Tree Lighting

Nothing says “The holidays are here!” like a good old-fashioned tree lighting! This year’s Downtown Rutland Tree Lighting Ceremony is Friday, December 3rd in downtown’s Depot Park.

We’ve moved the event back a week to make a bigger deal of ringing in the holiday season. As usual, we’ll be handing out free holiday light specs and candy canes to attendees. Mission City Church will also have free hot chocolate available for the first 200 visitors to warm up during a short performance. The event is lead by the mayor of Rutland City with a chance to say see Santa.

New this year! We’re promoting a holiday window walk to encourage attendees to check out the decorated storefronts throughout the district and vote for their favorite windows. The walk will start in Depot Park and end at the Chaffee Art Center with a reception and warm drinks.

The DRP will host weekly giveaways on Facebook throughout the month of December on social media. The gift cards will be given away at random to downtown shoppers, local organizations, and more.

General holiday marketing for the entire downtown district include:

• Print ads in the Mountain Times and Rutland Herald

• Gift guide for retail businesses in Explore Magazine

• Radio ads on Catamount Radio

• Sponsored promotions on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

• Free Shop Small™ materials from AmEx

• Direct mailer to local households

• Billboard at the New York border

• Trash can inserts promoting support for local business