The holidays. They’re here – well, sort of. We all love to complain about the commercial holiday machine gearing up just hours after Halloween draws to a close, and even though it can be a bit much, in general it’s good for a lot of local people. Hear me out. The holiday shopping season is about more than just the big department stores and electronics retailers – it’s about the local shops and restaurants owned and staffed by our neighbors and friends.

With that in mind, you may notice that throughout this issue of Volume One, we’re kicking off the holiday season with a bang. Most obviously, our annual Holiday Handbook is tucked inside – filled with tons of events and listings, info on holiday charities and causes, and of course, plenty o’ cheer. Within the issue itself you’ll find our first reader-submitted holiday recipe section dubbed Home Cookin’, the launch of this year’s Buy Local campaign, and a special spread about Small Business Saturday on Nov. 29. And in the middle of it all you’ll also find a festive catalog from The Local Store featuring the fun new stuff we’re offering this season. So yeah, lots of holiday vibes.

Is all this a bit early? Maybe. But in my book, the local holiday shopping/dining/event season is something our community needs to keep focusing on – and getting the word out early is usually a good thing. Yes, the holidays are about many things to many people – family, friends, faith, and feeding those less fortunate – but it’s also about economic development, and in proper doses that’s a very good thing. Unfortunately, a lot of local businesses make it or break it during the holiday season. As much as 50 percent of a small retailer’s yearly sales happen in November and December. And a big part of a community’s identity is wrapped up in whether or not it has those cool small retailers lining its streets. So like it or not, the stronger our local holiday shopping culture, the more likely it is hip little shops will have the confidence to open their doors. And that makes our community better year-round.

It’s time we up the ante on the holiday experience around here. Growing the Chippewa Valley’s reputation as a holiday destination is good for business, good for tourism, and good for locals and their visiting families. But to get such a reputation we have to make the magic ourselves. We have to invest.

So my message here is twofold. The first is obvious – we as holiday shoppers need to commit to supporting these places. A good way to start that is by taking the Buy Local pledge and committing to spend at least $100 at locally owned shops this season (more about that on page 16).

But while citizen participation is critical, building a stronger holiday shopping culture does not rest on the shoulders of shoppers alone. The owners and managers of these local stores and restaurants need to do their part, too. And so do a whole host of civic organizations and city departments who can help set the stage.

To all of them I say this: It’s time we up the ante on the holiday experience around here. Growing the Chippewa Valley’s reputation as a holiday destination is good for business, good for tourism, and good for locals and their visiting families. But to get such a reputation we have to make the magic ourselves. It doesn’t happen on its own. So that means investing – both privately and publicly, with both time and money – in a quality holiday experience. That can mean seasonal lighting and decorations, holiday music and events, or special dinners or tastings. Anything that helps create a general ambiance of festive winter warmth. Frankly, it means just trying. The most successful businesses (and cities for that matter) are the ones that focus on the experience their visitors share as much as the products they sell.

Thankfully, in Eau Claire, things are finally starting to roll in this realm. After some stumbling blocks, Eau Claire Parks and Rec is now pushing forward with their holiday parade again, centered this year around the Grand Avenue Business District and Owen Park area on Saturday, Dec. 20. Some downtown civic groups, led by Downtown Eau Claire Inc., are looking at adding holiday lighting to some of the trees along the road in Phoenix Park – and eventually maybe even on the old railroad footbridge. And while downtown businesses have been getting a bit more visually festive in recent years, there’s still plenty of room for improvement. If we can keep this yuletide momentum going, we’ll see some initial payoff, but we’ll also see it compound in coming years.

Improvements like these tend to start with individuals making small things happen on their own, but it can really catch fire when larger groups – whole streets, districts, civic organizations, etc. – take it seriously and make bigger things happen, together. While it can be hard to measure the benefits of such efforts (they are often much more qualitative than quantitative), in my experience, the qualitative stuff tends to be the best sort of investment in the long run.

So, while we (of course) need to keep the tender and charitable core of the holidays fully intact, let’s not shy away from its economic component. We don’t have to see holiday shopping as an ugly thing – it can benefit our community in many ways year-round. Not only does an investment in the holiday experience increase the economic benefit to our city, it can help to create more vibrant holiday memories for our families and friends.

With that, I wish you and yours a happy and healthy holiday season.