Saratoga County is incentivizing shoppers to buy local through the holiday season. The “Save Our Locals” campaign is back for the second year and, so far, it’s paying off.

The Chamber of Commerce is encouraging local and out-of-town shoppers to spend at least $20.21 at any Saratoga County business or non-profit.

“Ensuring that the local businesses across Saratoga County could keep their doors open for as long as possible,” said Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce Vice President of Integrated Marketing Communications Maddie Gionet.

Once you spend $20.21, you can send in your receipt for a chance to win a $100 gift card to a number of other local businesses. Each week, the chamber chooses at least five winners.

“Our residents and out-of-town visitors have spent close to $30,000 right here in Saratoga County, so the receipts we’re getting in are really helping us to see that the impact of the campaign is working,” said Gionet.

Tide and Purl is one of Schuylerville’s newest small shops, selling homemade knitwear and products from other local artisans. The owner is seeing the benefits of this campaign firsthand.

“It’s really neat because I’ve been following along as a business owner, but also someone as a part of the community, watching all these businesses pop up on their social that I didn’t necessarily know were there,” said Tide and Purl Owner Amanda McCarty.

The Real McCoy Beer Co. Taproom in Ballston Spa is another recently established small business in Saratoga County. Michael Schaffer opened in February 2020, and it wasn’t long before the challenges set in.

“Running beer out to people’s trunks, a gloved hand reaching through the window with a credit card, and just sitting here behind the bar,” said Schaffer.

Now he’s seeing “Save Our Locals” impact too.

“That stuff definitely gets people out. I’ve had folks that have come in here during some of these different campaigns that they’ve run, because they’ve see it on there,” said Schaffer.

If you’d like to support these businesses, or any other’s in Saratoga County with the chance to win a gift card, the campaign runs until New Year’s Eve. You can email a picture of your receipt to saveourlocals@saratoga.org.