By Kim Hutchison
Staff Reporter:
The Ponoka and District Chamber of Commerce has been preparing for “A Dickens of A Christmas” for months and the hard work is paying off.
“Passport to Christmas”, which began on Nov. 12 and runs until Dec. 23, has shoppers getting a “passport” from local merchants. Shoppers receive one stamp on their sheet for every $10 they spend and, when the sheet is full, it can be returned to various participating merchants where it will be placed into an entry box for a grand prize draw set to take place on Dec. 23. The grand prize is a one-day shopping spree valued at $1,500. The second prize is a woman’s or men’s Citizen Eco-Driven watch from Lyon’s Jewelry valued at $300 and the third prize is Ponoka Shopping Bucks valued at $200.
In the centre of the sheets there is a number called the “scrooge key.” By logging onto www.ponokalive.ca and entering this sequence of numbers and letters, one is eligible to instantly win a prize that can be claimed by stopping in the Ponoka Chamber Office, during office hours, with your fully stamped winning passport.
This leads into the highly anticipated tree lighting ceremony taking place at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 28 at Town Hall immediately followed by a fireworks display kicking off Midnight Madness.
From 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. many businesses boasting unbeatable bargains will keep their doors open until midnight for a fun filled evening of local shopping.
Ponoka News is your Midnight Madness headquarters this year. We want to help stock the Ponoka Food Bank and we need your help in order to make that happen. A grand total of 1,700 lbs of food was collected last year so let’s see if your generous support can help shatter that record. If you stop by the Ponoka News with non-perishable food items, you are than eligible to select an envelope from our Christmas tree stocked with great prizes. Prizes include Red Deer Rebels tickets, West Edmonton Mall Waterpark and Galaxyland passes and many great gift certificates from Ponoka’s merchants.
A complete list of participating merchants and the deals they are offering can be found in the insert in this week’s paper.