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As December ushers in, locals are busy readying for the holiday season and are ready to make gift purchases.

After a year full of ups and downs, being stuck inside, not being able to do a lot of the things we have grown to love to do, there is a bit of excitement in the air.

This year has been quite difficult on a lot people financially, emotionally, physically and mentally.

Communities have suffered due to closures, especially locally owned small businesses.

As we shop this holiday season, we should remember to spread some love to our local businesses.

There are plenty of local businesses that offer awesome gifts for you to give to your loved ones, while supporting your local businesses many of whom are your family and friends.

Take a quick trip downtown to our local shops or venture out and about to find some delicious wares.

We won’t name all of our local businesses, but we can promise that there are numerous businesses who sell similar and varying items that are exactly what you’re looking for this holiday season.

Don’t forget that the locally owned business help our community each and every day.

They put money back into the economy, they draw people into our local community in turn turning more money into the economy. These are the businesses that constantly pour back into our schools through football program ads, donations for the fall festival, etc. Local businesses are the ones who help keep non-profits afloat.

We often take for granted to easiness of running across town to grab a needed item, but then we are the first to complain when we have to run to the next biggest city to get something when all we had to do was support our neighbor in business.

By shopping locally, we’re investing in our neighbors, our community and even ourselves.

We help small businesses stay in business and we provide convenience for ourselves and our community.

Don’t forget that shopping local is even good for the environment. Small local business usually set up shop in the village center, which gives a centralized location for shopping experiences, and allows shoppers to walk from shop to shop, thus contributing to less congestion and pollution.

Remember that shopping out of town, doesn’t help our economy at all. It doesn’t help our children. It doesn’t help our friends. It doesn’t help provide services in our community.

Shopping locally as much as you can will pay dividends this year and in years to come.

Small locally owned businesses are the largest employers nationally.

Local people should support local businesses hands down, and what better way to do so than during the holiday season in a year that has been the most difficult on all of us.

Happy Holidays and remember to invest in our community.