BlackTop Bingo

On July 14th we started BlackTop Bingo...so what the heck is that?

Before we explain how to play, it would be important to note why to play...the prizes!

• Laptop computer
• Flat-screen TV
• Backyard Patio Barbeque
• And thousands of of dollars in other prizes

To win, visit participating businesses in Hurricane and have them stamp your bingo card. No purchase is required, but it would be appreciated. Shop Hurricane and support the businesses that are making our valley a better place to live.

Pick up your Bingo card at participating businesses, the Hurricane City Offices or Museum.

The Rules:

1. Participants must be at least 18 years old.
2. To qualify for grand prizes, the BlackTop Bingo Card must be "blacked out" by obtaining a valid unique stamp from each business listed on the BlackTop Bingo Card.
3. A minimum of 1o business squares must be stamped to qualify for the regular non-grand prize drawing.
4. Only one prize per household.
5. Multiple BlackTop Bingo Cards accepted. Pick up additional cards at participating businesses.
6. Multiple card players can only stamp one card per Business each day.
7. Prize drawing will occur during Peach Days, September 3-4, 2010.
8. Completed BlackTop Bingo Cards must be turned in prior to the prize drawing on September 4th.
9. BlackTop Bingo participants do not need to be present at the Peach Days prize drawing to win.
10. BlackTop Bingo card will be validated to ensure proper stamps were obtained.
11. No purchase necessary, but encouraged :-)
12. Pick up prizes within 10 days of prize drawing, by September 14, 2010.
13. BlackTop Bingo Card expires September 4, 2o1o.

Drop off locations for completed BlackTop Bingo Cards

Hurricane City Offices, 147 N. 870 W. Open 9am to 5pm, Fridays until 3pm

Hurricane Valley Pioneer Heritage Museum, 35 W State St., Open 9am to 5pm

See you at Peach Days!

The Scoop

The Shop Hurricane Campaign will have a booth at this year's Hurricane Valley Business Expo. Please stop by and pick up a sticker and t-shirt! We'd like to get your information so we can start promoting your business in our social media efforts.

EVENT INFORMATION:

When: Saturday April 17th

From: 10am to 3pm

Location: Hurricane Middle School 395 N 200 W

So here's the scoop on what we've been up to:

We are asking residents to shift at least $100 a month of what they've already budgeted and spend it at local brick & mortar stores that they don't want to see go away. Businesses won't stay around if we aren't buying the products they sell. A boost in the sales to our local businesses will boost our local economy as a whole and I think we'd all like to see that. Every resident can make a difference.

We are using SOCIAL MEDIA tools such as: facebook, Twitter, and blogging. These are mediums to reach the Stay-at-Home Mom who does over 80% of the purchasing in an average household. She is always looking for the best deal for her family and we aim to instantly update her and everyone else with the local sales promotions going on in our community. We also have the opportunity to generate instant mobile updates via text message to the mobile phones of our residents.

Consider these stats: 18-29 year old consumers use text messaging more often than voice to communicate, 94% of texts are read, when given a choice 39% of US consumers 76 million people — prefer text messages to radio or TV advertising, and 80% of people keep their mobile phones on them all day.

We're promoting ALL the businesses in Hurricane (large & small) to help residents realize the positive impact shopping local has for our city. We encourage our local businesses to work harder and to be more competitive at marketing and driving sales. Our campaign is here to help create awareness and to persuade residents to "Buy Local First," certainly local stores would appreciate the business and interaction a great deal more than a website. People aren't going to shop in Hurricane just for the sake of shopping in Hurricane. Consumers are looking to save, hence the "Bountiful Baskets Revolution." When residents shop locally at national chain stores like Walmart and local independent stores like Stout Home Furnishings, an average of 55% of revenue generated returns to our community through payroll, taxes, and other expenditures. When purchases are made online, nothing returns to our community.

These marketing endeavors to promote our movement require the time and effort of our volunteers. With limited volunteers we are restricted in what we can do. We need the time and efforts of bloggers, business owners, and anyone who is, or wants to be, savvy with social media tools.

Our committee meets every Friday at 10:00am in the Chamber of the Hurricane City Offices. We invite anyone--residents and business owners--to attend and offer their services in our campaign.

Please contact us via this email with sales and promotions so we can start to generate content for our Blog.

Thank You!

--The Shop Hurricane Committee

Getting Started

Hello Hurricane Consumers and Business Owners!

The Shop Hurricane Movement is underway. The purpose of this blog is to connect our local community of consumers with our local businesses so that consumers can be up-to-date with sales and promotions going on in our community. We want our local businesses to succeed in today's struggling economy because our community as a whole benefits when revenues are kept here.

As we encourage consumers in Hurricane to Shop Local, we also encourage our local businesses to step up their level of competition and seek to increase overall customer satisfaction as motivation for consumers to keep their dollars in our economy.

We would like local businesses to contact us at shophurricane@gmail.com with information regarding the products and services they provide along with daily sales promotions offered to shoppers who follow this blog. When we receive these updates, our staff of volunteers will update this blog, which will simultaneously be updated on other social media forums, such as: facebook and twitter. As this movement grows, plans are in place to update our local consumers with instant mobile text message updates. To make this happen we will need interested consumers to email their mobile numbers to the above email address.

We invite all Hurricane consumers to bookmark this blog or add it to your blog-roll. With your help we will be able to establish an active network of businesses and consumers. We encourage everyone to leave comments and feedback about their shopping experiences here in Hurricane.

If there are any bloggers who would like to join us in our volunteer efforts to boost our economy, send us an email and let us know how you'd like to serve.

- Shop Hurricane Committee