'Country Roads Christmas' kicks off
Templeton shops come together for friendly competitionKerry O'Brien
News Staff Writer
TEMPLETON — The Country Roads Christmas yearly shopping competition kicks off Saturday morning and will feature 17 stores as part of the 8th annual event, offering participants a chance to win an assortment of prizes.
“Its going to be very exciting for everyone,” said Gale Whittle, owner of Country Mischief in Templeton. “You go through 17 places, you spend the day meeting and greeting, and everyone has different sales — it’s just really a fun day.”
In order to enter the raffle, which has a first place prize of more than $1,000 in gifts, participants must have their entry card stamped at each sponsor store. Second place is a $20 gift card to each store while third place wins a $10 gift card to each establishment.
“What we want you do to is hit all 17,” said Ms. Whittle. “It’s a challenge, it definitely is, but it’s just a fun time.”
Each of the shops will have special sales, events and refreshments. Red Apple Farm owner Al Rose said the purpose of the event is to draw attention to small businesses located off the beaten path.
“We’re trying to be the opposite of Black Friday,” said Mr. Rose. “Back roads is the thing that ties us all together and one of our goals as a group is to remind people that when it comes to the holidays, it impacts our community in so many ways if you shop local — so much money stays in our community.”
A new business joining this year’s shopping event is Country Pantry Restaurant and Gift Store, located at 2291 West Street in Barre.
“We just like meeting people,” said co-owner Paul Varney Sr. “(My wife and I) were approached by members and asked if we wanted to join and we thought we’ll spread the good cheer.”
Mr. Rose gathered less than a dozen local business owners to orchestrate the first Country Roads Christmas in 2005, which was called “Christmas in the Country”. The event has since grown and the group is now conducting monthly meetings.
“We always come up with new and better things to do,” he said. “We share the best practices, and in the last couple years we bought things together, like oil. It started out with Christmas in the country and it evolved into all of us working together. It’s been a really nice thing because everyone has so many skills and strengths. By working together we leverage everyone’s abilities.”
Last year, Ms. Whittle said there were around 300 people that entered the raffle after visiting all the stores. Brochures with additional details, mapping out each stop, will be available at each of the participating stores. Other participating businesses include King Philip Restaurant & Motor Inn, Peterham Leathers, and Smith’s Country Cheese.
The event will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Dec. 7 and Dec. 8. For more information visit www.countryroadschristmas.com.
These small business people live their businesses, no days off for some of them. I know Carol Smith, from Smith Country Cheese pretty well. This lady attends farmer's markets every day of the week including Saturdays, selling the cheese they make. Carol and her husband went into the cheese business after they found they could not make enough money selling milk. Attending markets every day is no easy task, but Carol has a loyal following. If you have not had a chance to go to their store, please stop in. They have a very nice place with a lot of different things to give as gifts, or you can send nice cheese selections for the people who have everything. Bev.
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