By Jim Cowan
President, Chickasha Chamber of Commerce

It’s hard to believe, but the Chamber’s “Buy Chickasha” is underway and the Festival of Light opens this week and we haven’t even celebrated Thanksgiving yet. The timing on all of this happens for a reason, especially Chickasha’s Christmas shopping local tradition of “Buy Chickasha.”
I saw a post on social media last week and someone asked a general question of “What do you like best about Chickasha?” There were a lot of good answers, some were a little out there, but hey it’s social media and that’s what you get, right? My response is simple… I love our local businesses. As a former small business owner myself, I appreciate how hard they work and how many obstacles they have to overcome just to pay the bills.
Many of our small businesses count on the Christmas season to generate enough revenue to get them by the cold blustery days of January and February. They just don’t need you to shop local, they are banking on it. How many businesses around town have posters of high school or junior high school kids in their windows? They buy those posters to help our local schools, then they buy ads in local newspapers, magazines, radio and sponsor fundraising dinners and chill cook offs. They give and they give and then they give some more. Now it’s our turn!
The neat thing about the “Buy Chickasha” program is that when you shop with those merchants, not only do you support your neighbors business, but you can also win cash and gift cards to do even more shopping right before Christmas. The Chamber will be draw 3 different winners and give away a total of $10,000 in cash and gift cards. So get out the next 3 weeks and do your part to help our local economy and “Buy Chickasha.”
Oh, and to the Chickasha resident that said his favorite thing about living in Chickasha was that it was close to Norman for him to go shopping and eat out…well… “Buy Chickasha!” Tis the season to support our local folks and maybe you will just be one of the three winners that will win thousands in cash and gift cards.