'Keep Calm and Shop Local' Campaign to Kick Off with Networking Event

Fat Tuesday is for celebrating and what better way to celebrate than with a Mardi Gras event with a purpose! Douglas County businesses are invited to enjoy King Cake and Mardi Gras atmosphere at the kick-off of the “Keep Calm and Shop Local” campaign on Fat Tuesday, Feb. 12, from 5 to 6 p.m., in the Courthouse Gallery, Douglas County Courthouse.

This free admission event is designed to encourage one-on-one networking between business people with the purpose of supporting each other’s products and services.

Shopping locally is essential to the health and welfare of Douglas County businesses. For every dollar spent in Douglas County, there is at least a three-fold effect as that dollar recirculates through the community. Douglas County has almost everything anyone needs, and the Fat Tuesday networking event is one effort to let residents know of products and services in our community.

The “Keep Calm and Shop Local” campaign is a take-off on the “Keep Calm and Carry On” World War II posters in the British Isles as morale boosters during the testing times that lay ahead.  he posters were largely forgotten until they were found 60 years later and they have generated a cottage industry of posters and memorabilia with similar messages.  The symbolic crown is that of King George VI.

Attendees at the Fat Tuesday networking event will receive posters for business windows and door prizes, and the first 100 will receive “Keep Calm and Shop Local” T-shirts compliments of the Douglas County Sentinel.

The Fat Tuesday networking event will feature King Cake, beads and other Mardi Gras paraphernalia for a fun atmosphere. The one-hour event will include a 10-minute program at about 5:45 p.m. and there will be a drawing for door prizes. Any local business which desires to be highlighted may donate a door prize (no promotional items, $25 minimum value, contact Wes Tallon at 770-920-7593).

Fat Tuesday is the end of the Epiphany Season and is the traditional day to celebrate the visit of the three kings to the Christ child. Ash Wednesday, the next day, begins the Season of Lent, which is the 40 days leading to Easter.  During Lent, tradition holds that observers enter a period of fasting, reflection, and repentance, so Fat Tuesday is the day where observers clean out their pantries and cupboards of flour, sugar, butter, shortening and other richer, fatty foods.

The Fat Tuesday networking event is being sponsored by the Douglas County Board of Commissioners and the Douglas County Sentinel. The event has free admission and is open to the public.

The “Keep Calm and Shop Local” campaign is being sponsored by the Douglas County Sentinel, the Douglas County Board of Commissioners, the City of Douglasville, Main Street Douglasville, and the Chamber of Commerce.