A group of Lloydminster businesses are inviting residents downtown for a special holiday shopping experience.
Businesses in the Border City’s downtown core have started the Friday Night Lights campaign which will see stores decorated with lights and displays as well as hosting pop-up vendors and select stores extending their hours.
One of the organizers, Ben Harrison, says the campaign is all about building excitement and activity downtown.
“What we want to do is bring the old-fashioned Christmas spirit to the downtown. We want to invite people to come and experience that old-fashioned window shopping kind of like what you see in the Christmas movies. We want to try and do whatever we can to create that spirit.”
“Rather than rely solely on events, we’re really trying to create opportunities for people to have unique experiences on a regular basis downtown.”
Border City Furniture, Thriftmas on 50th, Addilynn Apparel, Central Suite Hotel, Dawns Interiors, Cliff Rose for Clothes and Hot Peppers Clothing are some of the businesses participating in the campaign. Legacy DIY is also hosting several smaller independent vendors in the community. They are also running Christmas themed classes such as wreath making during the campaign.
Harrison sat on the Downtown Area Redevelopment Plan Committee and has spoken and collaborated with local business owners to try and come up with ways to bring residents back to the downtown and support local businesses.
“It’s exciting to be able to highlight the passion that people have for our community and to remind people that there is a lot of creativity, innovation and people that care deeply about Lloydminster.”
He is hoping the campaign not only builds a sense of positivity for a particular part of the city, but the community as a whole as well.
“One of the things that I want to encourage people, especially this year of all years, is to, wherever possible, have a positive mindset about Lloydminster. We can be negative or we can choose to see the positives that are already happening and choose to join with others to create even more positivity in our community.”
Friday Night Lights runs every Friday starting November 20 until December 18. Harrison says activities and shopping experiences will be highlighted on the Strong Lloydminster and Beautiful Downtown Lloydminster Facebook pages. Harrison adds any other downtown business is welcome to join the campaign.