Holiday open house promotes local shopping
Local businesses participated in the Holiday Open House on Saturday, offering shoppers a chance to shop locally this weekend.
For the open house, 15 businesses opened their doors to accommodate shoppers. The participating businesses were Dream Marine, Montana Gallery USA, Good News Christian Books and Music, Mountain Meadows Gift Shop, Studio 3 Ten Salon, Rivermist Home Décor, Libby Floral & Gift, Homesteaders Ranch & Feed, Yaak River Creations, Rocky Mountain Music & Collectibles, The Heritage Museum, Quilt Cottage, Antler Tree Nursery & Gifts, Managhan’s Furniture and Vintage Collectibles.
Managhan’s Furniture allowed smaller businesses to come in and set up tables for potential customers. Among the participants were Jamberry, DoTerra Oils, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Forest Vibes, Finley Kate Hat Company and Illumi Lilith Creations.
Amber Managhan requested a table representing Mary Kay Cosmetics, and Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultants Haley O’Brien and Rebecka Fosgate ran the table. The two set up products for customers to view. Mary Kay Independent Sales Director Tamara Crismore provided the products for the table.
Participants in the open house also had prize drawings for their customers. Among those businesses was Mountain Meadows Gift Shop.
Carol Cady and Sherry Beagle of Mountain Meadows welcomed customers with a cookie, a cup of coffee and an entry into their drawing. Customers who entered the drawing got a chance to win a bottle of flavor syrup or other piece of merchandise. The store had a new drawing every 20 minutes.
Cady has run Mountain Meadows for 35 years. For 30 of those years, Beagle helped her with the open house.
Cady and Beagle said on a typical day, Mountain Meadows receives around 30 visitors, but the open house enabled them to gain 10 times that much. The exponential increase of customers necessitated Beagle’s help with the business during the event.
“I needed help, so she just volunteered to come and help me every open house,” Cady said.
Cady said that they expect a large turnout of customers every year. She and Beagle said that the open house was a very social event, which allows them to interact with the community on a different level than normal. They look forward to it every year.
“It’s a great day for everyone to come out,” said Beagle. “For some people, it just becomes a ritual. You just know they’re going to be here every year. I think they look forward to coming here and seeing people that, maybe they haven’t seen for the whole year.”
The two friends expressed pleasure with the atmosphere that the event provides for Cady’s store.
“We get to see old friends, and people who come in, whether they come often or not,” said Cady. “We get to sit and visit with them.”