With Christmas less than two weeks away, Patchogue Village has introduced free on-street parking in the downtown area until 6 p.m. through Christmas Eve.
(Christmas Day is a holiday and parking is free anyway.)
To help mark the free daytime meters program, the Greater Patchogue Chamber of Commerce has been putting together 12 Days of Christmas holiday promotions to incentivize local shopping.
They also want people to share their experiences on social media using the hashtag #ShopPatchogue.
“We want to bring as many people to do their holiday shopping in downtown Patchogue as possible,” said David Kennedy, the chamber’s executive director. “A lot of attention has been focused on the new restaurants, which are great, but we want to remind people that there’s some great shopping in and around Patchogue as well.”
the incentives
Each day, including Christmas Eve, the chamber will be featuring three member businesses on its website at patchogue.com, starting Monday with The Tap Room, Top Dog Dinners and Stanley’s Furniture. Click here for a complete list.
For every $10 spent in a featured business that day, people will fill out a raffle ticket for a chance to win special gift package from all three of those featured businesses later that night.
Those tickets will also be entered into a contest for the grand prize: a large gift basket from all of the featured businesses over the 12 days. Shoppers will fill out their tickets in the stores.
Also on Thursday, Dec. 15, many downtown merchants will be remaining open until 8 p.m. for Starry Night Holiday Shopping. Parking will be free during the nighttime hours. The shop owners will be highlighting the night with caroling, holiday treats and/or hot chocolate and ciders.
There’s an ongoing storefront holiday decorating contest, as previously reported.
Lastly, Dec. 17 will be Stocking Stuffer Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., during which time the first 200 shoppers who report to the chamber’s booth in front of Patchogue Theatre at 71 East Main Street will receive a free stocking that can be used to collect special trinkets at local stores.
Perhaps more importantly, the stockings can be used to collect receipts.
For every $10 spent in a Patchogue business, shoppers will receive a raffle ticket for the 5 p.m. drawing of $500 that will be handed out on the spot, according to the chamber.
Photo: The Tap Room in Patchogue all decorated for the holidays. (Credit: Michael White)
