EDITORIAL: Shop local and support our communities

Nov. 27—Thanksgiving is behind us and attention turns fully to the winter holiday gift-giving season.

We're sure many of you snagged some pretty good Black Friday deals already, but now is the time to turn your focus locally.

Small Business Saturday is first.

This is the day to focus on spending your gift-giving dollars at your local merchants' shops. You may be surprised what you can find locally.

Visit your local shops and browse. You may be able to find that perfect gift for that hard-to-buy-for relative. Or if your friends like to go out to dinner at a local restaurant, stop by and get them a gift certificate for the holidays.

If you don't want to actually browse the shops, look around on local Facebook groups. You may come across a home-based crafter offering something you know your in-laws would love.

The following day is a new one to us, "Museum Store Sunday." Locally, The Farmers' Museum and Fenimore Art Museum near Cooperstown, the Chenango County Historical Society Museum in Norwich and The Iroquois Museum in Howes Cave are listed as participants on museumstoresunday.org.

"Museum Store Sunday provides patrons with opportunities to purchase unique merchandise while supporting our museum, which is still recovering from challenges related to the on-going public health crisis," CCHS Operations Manager Joseph Fryc said earlier this month.

With the COVID pandemic still raging in our area, many people are not too keen on going into what may be a crowded store.

But that is fine. Many local businesses have online shopping options. To help survive the pandemic, some solely brick-and-mortar retail business discovered ways to do their businesses in an online forum. Because of that, there will be plenty of options to take advantage of local online deals on Cyber Monday.

The Tuesday after Thanksgiving has recently become known as Giving Tuesday. That is the day nonprofit organization ask shoppers to think of them at this time this year. And it seems to be working. Last year, the effort raised $2.5 billion for nonprofits.

Of course all of these special "holiday shopping" days can be used in multiple ways. For example, the Susquehanna SPCA partnered with the Delaware Valley Humane Society, Heart of the Catskills Humane Society and Super Heroes in Ripped Jeans to run a pop-up thrift shop in the Southside Mall through Dec. 19. You can shop local and support a local nonprofit.

Visit one of the local museum's websites and see what you can find, and you can hit all four events at once.

Those who spend their gift-giving dollars locally give a gift not only the receiver of the physical item but to the community by supporting the local businesses and organization that are essential to a community's health. Not only do they employ local people, often times local businesses are the first to donate products, experiences, space or time to charitable causes.

Find the perfect gift — and one that can give back in many ways — in your community.