Downtown Jacksonville hosting Small Business Saturday event full of discounts and deals

Cha ching! Small business shoppers are going to have the opportunity to win prizes in a scavenger hunt event celebrating local shopping this weekend.

Downtown Vision, a non-profit organization aiming to revitalize Downtown Jacksonville, is hosting a Small Business Saturday celebration on Nov. 26 to encourage shoppers to take advantage of a day of discounts and deals at local businesses.

“We started the QR code hunt as a way to get people downtown during COVID,” said Katherine Hardwick, Downtown Vision’s vice president of marketing and research. “They could come and visit the businesses, and it wasn’t going to be packed per se.”

The organization also will host a Shop Small QR Code Scavenger Hunt run through the Eventzee app.

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Participants need to download the app, create an account and hunt for QR codes at participating businesses.

This particular event is heading into its third year, but Hardwick said Downtown Vision hosts multiple events of this type in the fall and winter — including a Halloween scavenger hunt last month, which saw over 100 participants, and an upcoming “Dashing Through Downtown” event from Dec. 12 to 16.

Participating businesses for Saturday include:

• Sweet Pete’s Candy

• Hemming Plaza Jewelers

• Mag’s Cafe

• Chamblin’s Uptown

• Wolf & Cub

• Jacobs Jewelers

• The Volstead

• The Residences at Barnett

• Visit Jacksonville

• Bellwether

• Cypress Floral Design

• Jumpin’ Jax House of Food Downtown

• Burrito Gallery Downtown

• Pedal Pub Jax

• Element Bistro Bar and Lounge

• Myth Nightclub

• Manifest Distilling

• Village Bread Cafe

The first 100 shoppers who seek out and scan at least five QR codes on Small Business Saturday will receive a $20 e-gift card from Downtown Vision. All shoppers who scan at least five QR Codes will be entered into a drawing to receive a $100 gift card, and hunters can receive additional drawing entries when they participate in photo challenges in the Eventzee app.

Purchases are not required to play.

Hardwick said money spent at local businesses stays in the community and gets reinvested into Jacksonville and specifically into Downtown, making it an important community builder in more ways than one.

“We always try to get as many businesses as possible,” she said. “We love working with the app. It allows us to see how many people participate and allows us additional ways for people to participate, like the photo challenges.”

Additional events showcasing local business this weekend include:

Riverside Arts Market — Small Business Saturday  at 715 Riverside Ave.

RAM from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. will feature a variety of small businesses from farmers to artists to makers and bakers under the bridge.

Christmas Made in the South at 1000 Water St.

One of the top 100 craft festivals in the nation will take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and feature photography, jewelry, sculpture, woodworking, personalized ornaments, pottery, stained glass and folk artists.

The 904 Pop Up at the Light Boat Parade at 2 W. Independent Drive

The 904 Pop Up will host one of Jacksonville’s largest Small Business Saturday events featuring over 200 local creatives, makers and artists from 4 to 9 p.m. Downtown.

For more information about Small Business Saturday in Downtown Jacksonville, visit dtjax.com/shopsmall.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville hosts Small Business Saturday event downtown 2022