March Madness shopping campaign coming to Colfax

The Colfax Chamber of Commerce has started its Shop Local Campaign and will soon be introducing March Madness as a part of the campaign.

The March Madness event will coincide with college basketball's March Madness tournament, and it will be similar in nature to the Passport to Colfax event in November and December.

According to Colfax's Unified Executive Director Valoree Gregory, people who shop in Colfax during the event will receive a scratch ticket at the time of purchase. If the scratch ticket reveals three basketballs, the ticket can be entered to win prizes. Drawings will be held every Friday during the month at 3 p.m.

Gregory said the scratch tickets will be delivered to participating businesses by March 1, and the event will continue throughout the entire month. She said she believes this will be a great way to boost the Shop Local campaign which the Chamber of Commerce has started here.

“That is our whole point, is to get people excited about shopping in Colfax and to purchase things from businesses,” Gregory said.

Scratch tickets will be given away at participating businesses which include Rosauers, Hen House Chicks, Palouse River Quilts, Flowers, Décor and More, Tick Klock Drug, Hyde Out, Bliss, Sport Town, Fonk's, Events on Main, ACE, Top Notch Café, the library, the Colfax Golf Course, Buri's Medical Equipment, Cougar Graphics, Colfax Cable, Four Star Supply, Embellish IT, Steptoe Butte Soap Company, Washington Federal Bank, Colfax Computer and the Perkins House.

Those wishing to participate must purchase something, Gregory said. However, not all the participating businesses have merchandise to sell, so some of the businesses have come up with other ways to help customers earn scratch tickets.

“Some businesses are doing it in a different kind of way,” Gregory said. The library plans to give away the scratch tickets at their bingo games to winners, and Colfax Cable will give a scratch ticket to people who come in and pay their bill. Gregory also said that anyone who comes in for a tour at the Perkins House and leaves a donation will get a card.

“Even the banks are looking into it and getting some ideas,” Gregory added.

The Shop Local campaign stickers, which play on the success of the Haunted Hospital St. Ignatius tours, have arrived, and she will start distributing those to Chamber businesses Friday. Those stickers can be placed in storefront windows. The stickers read, “Ghost towns happen when you don't shop local” in front of a picture of the St. Ignatius Hospital building.

Gregory also said that it is not too late to be a participating business in the March Madness event. Businesses wishing to participate can contact her via email at colfaxdirector@gmail.com.