Estevan鈥檚 Downtown Business Association (DBA) has expanded its annual Moonlight Madness shopping event.
It will be held over two days Dec. 3 and 4, instead of just one night, allowing for the downtown merchants to provide a safer shopping environment. Most of the downtown stores will be open until 9 p.m. each night, with a variety of sales and other items available.
Santa Claus will be making an appearance, but he will be outside, weather permitting, and visits with him will be done safely, said Laurel Buck, the president of the DBA.
鈥淥ur plan so far is to have him behind Plexiglas, and then to have a seat on each side of him, so that the child can speak to him through the Plexiglas,鈥� said Buck. 鈥淭hen when that child leaves, Santa will turn and talk to the other while they wipe down and disinfect the other seat.鈥�
The association will follow guidelines and restrictions.
People can enter a draw by scanning a quick response code at stores by the till. It will bring up an entry form that they can submit. The draw will be for $650 in gift certificates for the various downtown merchants.
There are a number of new businesses on Fourth Street in Estevan, and they will be participating, as well as the long-time companies.
Buck said Moonlight Madness will be a great opportunity for these new businesses to showcase what they have.
Moonlight Madness is an important event for downtown Estevan each year, she said, because it brings people to downtown. And they believe it鈥檚 even more important this year.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been a DBA staple for years, and people have looked forward to it. We still have people asking 鈥榃hen are you going to do that?鈥� 鈥� or 鈥淗ow are you going to do that?鈥� or 鈥淎re you going to do that this year?鈥� We didn鈥檛 want to disappoint the people, and as businesses, we enjoy it,鈥� Buck said.
The retailers are happy to have people in the stores, and after they were shut down for two months earlier this year, they can use all the support they can get.
鈥淧eople can shop two days, all day, until 9 o鈥檆lock, so if they can, come when it鈥檚 a little bit slower and take advantage of it,鈥� said Buck.
