The Altona and District Chamber of Commerce is encouraging all of us to play along with its latest shop local initiative, The Passport to Christmas. 

"This year we thought it would be a great way to kick start the holiday shopping season with a Passport to Christmas," explained the Chamber's Stephanie Harris. "It's really a promotion that's all about supporting our local businesses."

And participating is super easy to do. You can get your Passport to Christmas at any participating business (see below) or the Chamber office located on Centre Avenue. Chloe Driedger designed the passport, which features a festive looking Christmas tree.

"The passport features a Christmas tree with ornaments, and each ornament represents a different denomination that can be spent at a local business," Harris said. "Once you spend, let's say $10, you will receive a stamp on the $10 ornament. Once your passport card is full, you bring it into the Chamber office. We've got a lovely gift basket that's wrapped up, and you can just pop your Passport into there."

The deadline to enter your completed Passport is Friday, December 15th, with the draw happening Monday, December 18th. The winner is taking home $500 in Altona Chamber bucks!

"We have a lot of small businesses within the community, and it's usually around the holiday season they see more of a significant financial income," she noted. "They depend on that to pull them through some of the other tougher times throughout the year, so the Chamber's always supporting shop local, support our local businesses not only for their sustainability and for their growth, but to also help us attract new businesses to the region." 

The participating businesses are:

West Park Chevrolet Buick GMC
The Flower Shop
Hometown Heritage
Main St. Market
Springtide Wellness
DG Insipred
Agassiz Massage
Oma's Kitchen
Altona IGA
Altona Farm Service
Hair Ecstasy 
Altona Hotel
Altona Library
Rhineland Car
Pizza Haven
Chicken Chef
Home Hardware
MCC
GVE
Four Winds
Ang's Pizza
O'Naturelle
Ruff Mutts
Roadside Foods
To The Z
Red Apple
Alt Marketing
Happy Skin & Coat

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