‘Look What’s Local’ becomes a week-long challenge

GRANITE FALLS — You may want to bring a passport to get around town this week. Carrying the right one will give you discounts at restaurants, coupons for shopping and the chance to win a flat-screen television.

The free passports are available at downtown businesses starting Monday. They’re part of a week-long “Look What’s Local” quest coordinated by the Granite Falls Chamber of Commerce.

The chamber turned their annual business fair into a six-day passport challenge to bring more people downtown and introduce them to local businesses.

Employees at more than 20 participating businesses can stamp a page of the passport even if the visitor doesn’t use one of the coupons, said Jeanenne Hoyt, the chamber’s treasurer.

Stamped passports can be entered into a drawing where the grand prize is a flat-screen television.

The goal of “Look What’s Local” is to have people discover businesses they never knew were here, Hoyt said.

“In prior years we’ve done it as a day-long event on a Saturday,” Hoyt said. “This time, you stamp as many businesses’ (pages) as you can get to and then turn in your passport at the end of the week.”

A business fair is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Granite Falls Senior Center, 302 S Granite Ave.

“It should be kind of a fun way for folks to engage with some of the local businesses,” said Jude Anderson, a former chamber president. “Look What’s Local” has been an annual event for three years, but participation was limited by the time or location of a one-day fair, Anderson said. He hopes adding the week-long passport challenge will draw more people.

“We’re waiting to find out how that works for folks,” Anderson said. “The businesses like it because a lot of them found it hard to send someone to a one-day event.”

Saturday’s fair offers a chance to showcase companies that don’t have downtown storefronts, he said.

The success of this year’s event will determine whether it continues for a full week or goes back to a one-day fair.

“It’s to get people to know what businesses we have in town and get them to shop local,” Hoyt said.

Kari Bray: 425-339-3439, kbray@heraldnet.com