The kickoff event for Shop Owensboro was certainly different this year, but hundreds of people still showed up and are already showing support for local businesses. Because that support means a little extra this year — and to reduce crowd sizes as an added safety measure — Shop Owensboro will continue all this week.
Shop Owensboro was curated by GO Owensboro Chamber of Commerce and is sponsored by Independence Bank. The drive-thru kickoff event was scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Owensboro Convention Center, but there was a line of cars already waiting before 8 a.m.
“We’re delighted with the turnout,” said Candance Castlen Brake, president and CEO for GO Chamber. “We knew people would be here early. We didn’t know they’d be here an hour and a half early. There’s never been a doubt for us that people were going to get out and be out there in the community helping out local shops and merchants.”
Team members from both organizations handed out shopping bags that included maps with participating stores and bingo cards as well as coupons, special offers and discounts. (For shoppers who weren’t able to get a bag, participating stores may still be offering discounts — a listing of those stores and their addresses can be found here.)
“It’s really important for our local community to come together and invest back in people that continuously invest in Owensboro,” Brake said. “They’re taxpayers, neighbors, people we sit next to in church. It’s time for us to stop up as a community to make sure this time next year all of our favorite shops, merchants and restaurants are still here.”
Kyle Aud, Senior Vice President of Independence Bank, said they were glad the Chamber extended the traditionally single-day event into a full week of shopping.
“Independence Bank is happy to partner with the Chamber on an event like this,” he said. “Our motto is “local love.” We support all of our local businesses, so there’s not a better event you could do throughout the year that Shop Owensboro. We’re just happy to be involved.”
State Rep. Suzanne Miles was also at the kickoff, welcoming shoppers as they drove through to pick up their bags.
“We appreciate Independence Bank and the Chamber and everything that they’ve done to make this happen in a safe environment during an unprecedented time,” she said. “It’s always been important to shop local, but it is now more than ever because we have to make sure that we take care of our people here in the community.”
