Strabane BID encourages people to ‘Be A Hero’ this Christmas.

STRABANE BID will launch its Christmas campaign next week and has also unveiled a litany of plans in a four-pronged approach designed to make the festive period a fun and lucrative one for the town.

Firstly, launching next week is the Strabane Christmas video, due for release on November 21, showcasing the best that Strabane has to offer. Strabane BID will be using this video to launch the festive campaign to promote the town. Secondly is the Christmas window competition, also beginning on Monday, which will see Strabane shops light a festive trail of brightly-coloured window displays.

Town centre manager Emma McGill explained, “We already have some amazing shop windows in Strabane and the more businesses which take part the better and I would encourage everyone to do so. The more entries we have, the better we can share, promote and celebrate Strabane. We know that people come into the town at Christmas to see the window displays and creating a beautiful festive trail that not only brings sparkle and vibrancy to our town but it also encourages people to go into the town to shop.

“Our competition closes on the December 9 with the winning business announced on Christmas week with a prize of £1,000 up for grabs in first place with second place receiving £500 and third £250.”

One of the biggest new BID plans is the ‘Be A Hero’ campaign which will see business owners and organisations in Strabane encouraged to purchase a Strabane Gift Card, encouraging staff to support local businesses and thus keep business flowing.

“The beauty about the card is that the recipient can spend it on luxury items to treat themselves or on practical items such as tyres and fuel,” Emma continued.

“It’s such a diverse gift, redeemable in over 70 businesses across Strabane and gives the recipient the gift of choice. We also find that businesses are starting to use the gift card now to reward employees too, which is great because it keeps the benefit in Strabane!”

The highlight of Christmas in Strabane is undoubtedly the big switch-on, which this year will happen on Saturday November 26, with Christmas music being pumped into the town on the day and right up to Christmas Eve giving an attractive, welcoming, Christmassy vibe to the town.

Emma concluded by saying, “Strabane BID is delighted to be running our festive campaign and once again our focus will be on supporting our wonderful local businesses. Every business is suffering between the pandemic and now the rising cost of living crisis and it’s hugely important that we encourage local people to shop local and support local this Christmas and beyond.

“We hope that our campaign will bring sparkle to Strabane this Christmas and encourage people and families into town to buy their gifts, essentials and stop to have a coffee or bite to eat in our amazing hospitality businesses.

“Strabane has a really unique offering due to the high number of independent retailers so it’s the perfect place to shop to find something that little bit different, all while supporting local.”