Shop at home, help your town this weekend

Christmas is almost upon us; and if you’ve still got shopping to do, this is a great weekend to get out and shop at home.

Between the monthly trade days out at the Whistle-Stop and the deals you can find among our local merchants, there should be something for everyone on your gift list.

By shopping in Clarendon this weekend, you can park right in front of your favorite store, be greeted by the business man or woman who knows your first name, and find great gifts for great prices. You will find great selections, great savings, and service that you can only get right in a small town.

Your local merchants are the ones who pay taxes here to support your city, county, college, school, and ambulance service. They are the ones who pony up every time a kid comes in raising money for the third or fourth “worthy cause” this week, and then when they go to the grocery store, they will dig into their pocket and find money for the cookies or pies at the bake sale of the week.

The money we spend in Amarillo pretty much stays in Amarillo. It pays for streets in Amarillo, supports their dream of a new baseball stadium, and supports their schools and their kids. It doesn’t come home, it doesn’t keep the lights on in our school, and it doesn’t keep our senior citizens centers running.

The Enterprise has always supported the “shop at home” theme and encourages people to “be loyal and buy local” whenever it is possible. And likewise, our local merchants have always gone out of their way to try to make shopping Clarendon attractive and fun.

This Saturday morning, you can take your kids to see Santa at the Mulkey Theatre and the let them watch holiday movies at the Mulkey that afternoon.

You can enjoy great concessions from St. Mary’s Church at the Masonic Lodge Hall during the day, and then that evening support a great cause – raising money for Amber Williams – at a chili supper Saturday evening at the Crossties Ministry Center.

And you can also enjoy great holiday booths – many of them belonging to local organizations – at the Arena of Life Cowboy Church downtown and also at the ministry center.

And this year we are fortunate to have the Whistle-Stop Trade Days on the same weekend. The monthly endeavor established earlier this year by Kimberly and Jordan Green draws big crowds to Clarendon each month and has helped our sales tax base expand significantly.

If you haven’t been to the Whistle-Stop at the old Chamberlain Motor Company building, you are definitely missing out. It’s a shopping experience like you’ve never seen in Clarendon. They have vendors selling everything you can imagine – jerky, soap, antiques, collectibles, clothes, tools, furniture, unique gifts, and more. There is stuff outside and inside and everywhere you look.

But it’s more than shopping, it’s fun. There are things for kids to enjoy, and also entertainment for the grown-ups. Where else can you find live music, great food, and cold beer in one spot without leaving town? And there is often typically different musicians playing at the same time in different locations… the beer garden behind the main building, the old showroom, and the old service center.

For several years now, our family has set the goal of getting as much of our Christmas shopping done right here at home and that’s the goal again for 2016. Always remembering which side our bread is buttered on, our intention is to make the majority of our purchases from local merchants – the men and women who support our community and our newspaper.

And now with the Whistle-Stop, we have even more local choices for our holiday purchases. Several of the vendors are local folks and the sales tax from all of the vendors – regardless of where their home base is – stays here in our town.

Think about your purchases. It makes a difference when you shop at home. It is simple economics, and it is common sense. The more you spend in Donley County, the more our local businesses can put right back into the local economy.

We all win when we shop at home, and this weekend is a great time to put your money to work for your community while having fun and supporting your friends and neighbors.