Area Residents Invited to Explore Palatine and PalHunt This Weekend
Celebrate your support for Palatine area businesses and get to know the Village better at two separate events coming up this weekend, hosted by the Palatine Area Chamber of Commerce (PACC)! Explore Palatine, now in its third year, is an outdoor expo and sidewalk sale that will take place on Saturday, September 12. On Sunday, September 13, the business association is launching a new event called PalHunt, where participants can compete individually or with a team in an outdoor clue hunt around Palatine. View this video from the PACC to learn more about both events: www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQHjZ-DuHwY
Explore Palatine encourages area residents to support small businesses by patronizing favorite retailers or discovering new ones. Participating businesses will offer sales, provide entertainment at select locations, or feature other special offers. Yellow/gold balloons displayed outside of participating locations will direct visitors and shoppers. A 50/50 raffle will also be part of this event; the winner will be announced Monday, September 14 on the PACC Facebook page: www.facebook.com/PalatineChamber. Event hours will vary depending on location. For a list of participating businesses and their hours of operation, please visit explorepalatine.org. This event is free and open to the public.
Explore Palatine is an outgrowth of PACC's 'Think Local' campaign and created to generate awareness about businesses, and educate residents about the importance of keeping sales tax dollars in the local community whenever possible. When shopping at a small business in Palatine, $48 out of every $100 spent goes back to support Village services, while shopping at a regional 'big box' brings substantially less - $14 comes back to Palatine for every $100 spent. What could be a shocking fact to some is that just $1 out of $100 spent goes back to Palatine if individuals shop online.
"We greatly appreciate the support of area residents in attending either or both of these events, which will communicate to business community members they are important and valued," said PACC Executive Director Steven Gaus. "Small businesses are what this country was built upon, and they are most certainly part of the lifeblood of the greater Palatine community."
On Sunday, September 13, PalHunt will run from noon-6 p.m. with the last entries being accepted at 7:30 p.m. This outdoor clue hunt will take participants to nine separate locations throughout the Palatine community with cash prizes awarded to the first place individual or team who successfully completes the hunt. Participants will also help to raise funds for Keep Palatine Strong, which has a GoFundMe page, and is providing financial support to small storefronts in Palatine negatively impacted by the pandemic. Please visit palatinestrong.com to donate.
The cost to participate in PalHunt is $10 per person or $20 per team. One member from each team must have a smartphone to download the Eventzee app in order to play. Just prior to the hunt, participants will be sent a code which allows them to begin. For more information and to register, please visit www.palatinechamber.com/events/details/palhunt-8785. To learn more about the PACC, visit palatinechamber.com.