Sharon, Hermitage taking different approaches for Small Business Saturday

Nov. 22—With Small Business Saturday looming this weekend, Sharon and Hermitage — two neighboring cities with two vastly different business districts — are taking two different approaches.

Sharon's event caters to its compact downtown, with live entertainment and festivities, including multiple Christmas tree lightings, while Hermitage, which has a sprawling shopping area, has taken its Small Business Saturday virtual.

Since its creation in 2010, Small Business Saturday has fallen the Saturday after Thanksgiving, one day after Black Friday, with the intent of enticing consumers to make holiday purchases from local, independent shops.

Sharon is marking the occasion with a new feature — a pop-up artisan market from noon to 6 p.m. inside the former Army-Navy Store, 47 E. State St., next to the State Street bridge.

The market will include live music with Sharon musician Max Schang and Me Uke Lady. Vendor giveaways and kids' activities are featured, plus for every market purchase, visitors will get a chance to win a $150 gift card to their Sharon business of choice.

"The purpose of the pop-up market is to help draw more people to downtown Sharon to support our retail businesses," said Sherris Moreira, director of downtown development. Moreira added getting foot traffic into the normally empty downtown space is also a way to help fill that space in the future.

"We'll be doing monthly pop-up markets during the winter in spaces available for rent or sale to help market our buildings as well as bring people into the city to shop," Moreira said.

The event culminates at 5 p.m. with a tree lighting next to FNB's office, 7 W. State St. It features live entertainment including the Sharon High School Chamber Choir and Buhl Club's dancers, followed by Santa's arrival on a Sharon City firetruck, with Daffin's Candy bars as treats for the kids.

Included in the ceremony will be an event to honor state Rep. Mark Longietti, D-7, Hermitage, who will be leaving the state House next month after 16 years in Harrisburg.

The tree lighting area will be blocked off from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. between Emerald Tablet on East State Street and The Winner building on West State Street on the other side of the bridge. Fireworks by Pyrotecnico will be set off over the bridge starting at 6 p.m.

After the fireworks, the festivities continue at 7:30 p.m. with a "We Love Disney II" show in ACTS Theatre, 40 S. Irvine Ave. Cost: Adults, $15; students $10. Across town on the East Hill, "A Christmas Pudding II" holiday show will be performed by the Black Sheep Players at First Presbyterian Church of Sharon, 600 E. State St. This mix of music, poetry and live performance includes a reading by Gerald Dickens, the great-great grandson of classic author Charles Dickens, and an art showcase by Random Acts of Artists. Cost: $15.

Sharon erected three Christmas trees, which will be decorated for Saturday's festivities.

"We are excited to bring back our evening festivities," said Courtney Cilli, downtown events coordinator, adding that new lighted ornaments for the downtown tree will add to the ceremony along with a second lighted tree at the Sharon roundabout sponsored by the the Gannon University SBDC and JCL Energy. "We want our Sharon community to celebrate the season at this annual event as well as support our local shops and restaurants throughout the entire season."

Hermitage already kicked off the Christmas season last Saturday with its popular Holiday Light Parade, drawing thousands to line the parade route. So its Small Business Saturday activities focus more on the primary goal of the event, encouraging people to shop at locally-owned businesses. But businesses are spread out in a suburban city like Hermitage, which stymies the door-to-door foot traffic found in places such as downtown Sharon.

To help connect and promote those businesses, Hermitage Director of Recreation and Community Events Jessica Gotch said city officials have kicked off an online initiative for Small Business Saturday — the first of its kind for this event.

"We thought that if we used our online presence to promote some of these businesses, we can make the actual event center around that online platform," Gotch said.

Businesses are able to register with the city, either by visiting the "City of Hermitage, PA" Facebook page or visiting hermitage.net and clicking "Forms."

This will allow the city to promote the businesses, along with any special deals, online and supplying promotional materials in return.

When Nov. 26 comes, consumers can take a selfie of themselves while patronizing a small business, then post that selfie with the tag "#ShopHermitagePA22."

Later during the following week, a winner will be chosen from among the many participating consumers, with the announcement posted to Facebook, Gotch said.

That winner will receive a prize including gifts provided by the many businesses who participated in the city's online initiative.

Although many of the businesses provided gift cards, Gotch said some donations ranged from a Norwegian Cruise Line bottle to a bag of coffee to a full synthetic oil change — reflecting the diverse array of businesses in Hermitage.

"We got a lot of gift cards but there were quite a few different things too," Gotch said.

One business already registered with the city's online initiative is Cottage Gardens, where Ryen Roberts, one of the owners, said the store has maintained an online presence for years.

That presence has grown since the COVID-19 pandemic, and the store now maintains pages on Instagram and Facebook, as well as its own website, cottagegardens.org — which is why Roberts said the business was open to the city's online initiative for Small Business Saturday.

"It's another outlet for us and it lets us be a part of the community," Roberts said.

Store officials still advertise the old-fashioned way, but social media, particularly Facebook, allows Cottage Gardens to post updates on specials and store hours more immediately for customers.

In turn, that online presence has helped open up Cottage Garden to a broader audience, Roberts said.

For Small Business Saturday, Cottage Gardens will enter customers into a prize drawing at its greenhouse with every purchase.

The business will also feature Clydesdale rides, musical entertainment and Unstable Eats owned by Debbie Lewis will offer food and beverages — a Christmas tradition at Cottage Gardens, which starts Thanksgiving weekend and the following couple weekends, Roberts said.

"It's always been a great collaboration between everybody," Roberts said.

The Hermitage Board of Commissioners had previously passed a proclamation earlier this year recognizing Nov. 26 as Small Business Saturday and encouraged residents to shop locally.

According to the proclamation, the U.S. Small Business Administration said there are 32.5 million small businesses nationwide, which represent 99.7 percent of firms with paid employees, are responsible for 62 percent of net new jobs created since 1995, and employ 46.8 percent of employees in the private sector.

Commissioners President Duane Piccirilli credited city staff with trying to put "extra focus" on small businesses for Small Business Saturday.

Although this can be challenging due to the spread-out nature of Hermitage's businesses, Piccirilli said the online initiative was a "great" way of showcasing the city's businesses with the community.

"I hope people in the Valley support our small businesses, because in addition to helping the economy and the businesses, they'll find many unique shops in our city," Piccirilli said.

If successful, Gotch said city officials could bring the online initiative back for future Small Business Saturdays.

Like David L. Dye on Facebook or email him at .

Like David L. Dye on Facebook or email him at ddye@sharonherald.com.