“You just made my Christmas,” said Peggy Johnson on hearing she was the grand prize winner in Shootin’ the Breeze’s annual Shop Local for Christmas contest.

Her comment made my day.

Even better was meeting her in person with a box of gift certificates and merchandise that was her winnings. As we went through the items, she gleefully devised how to use each one.

She doesn’t plan to use them all for herself, but to treat others who have been kind to her. This made my Christmas and I left her home with a happy heart.

Stacy Benson, now back in her role as manager of the Pincher Creek and District Chamber of Commerce, shared similar experiences of delivering prizes for the chamber’s Holiday Passport campaign.

The contests are similar but different, with both incentivizing shoppers to spend locally.

Stacy caught the tail end of things when she returned to her position in late December after a year-long maternity leave. She says collecting entries and prizes from the businesses and handing gifts to the winners was an excellent way to go around and get her boots on the ground.

Only member businesses have the perk of participating in the chamber campaign. This year, 40 businesses donated a total of over $3,500 in prizes, which were divided into three prize packages. 

Gwen Toews was the grand prize winner, with Alysha Matheson and Cathy Spencer receiving the other two packages. More than 4,500 passports were entered, tracking $909,000 spent at the participating businesses.

As Shootin’ the Breeze serves both Pincher Creek and Crowsnest Pass, all area businesses are welcome to take part. Fifty-four did just that and were most generous, with prize donations surpassing $4,000.

Along with Peggy, Sam Valin, Diane Bowen-Oczkowski, Carole Goodreau, Susan Soloveoff, Maureen Thomson, Stef Dowdell and Curtis Trim won major gift packages. This year’s contest-in-a-contest winners were Donna Rose, Alex Ingram, Shelley Maloff, Joanne Oliver and Donna Cisar.