Thompson Falls Chamber reviews holiday scavenger hunt

THOMSPON FALLS – During their first meeting of the new year, the Thompson Falls Chamber of Commerce heard updates on their holiday festivities as well as getting information on the upcoming tax season.

To open the meeting, the chamber discussed the outcome of their annual holiday scavenger hunt around the local businesses. For the hunt, participants were given cards and had to go to participating businesses to get a stamp on it. The goal of the hunt was to bring in business by scavenger hunt participants coming into businesses and looking around when they got the stamp.

It was noted, however, that many people seemed to just come in, get the stamp and leave; not many people seemed interested in staying and looking around. It was also noted many people did their whole scavenger hunt during the day of the deadline, rather than during the full week the hunt was active.

“I found that, the people that came in, they just kind of ran in and got the stamp, then ran back out,” said one business owner.

One possible explanation for this was that it was the first year they had the hunt over the whole week; in years past, the chamber has only had the hunt on the Saturday or just during a couple days on the weekend. As a result, people may not have known about the schedule change. 

It was suggested the rules could be changed to require they participate in the business in some way to get the stamp, by buying a drink or some other interaction. Gigi Comer, one of the chamber’s board members, had some concerns, though, since this would take time and make it harder for participants to go to all the businesses; it may also discourage people from participating if they do not want to spend lots of time with each stop.

Another suggestion was to have the stamping station further back in the business, rather than right by the door; this way participants in the scavenger hunt need to navigate the store’s inventory to get the stamp.

Comer questioned whether things would have been different had they offered something to the customers, such as a coupon, with the stamp; some of the business owners in attendance felt it probably would. She suggested, during the 2016 event, the businesses offer something for participants, like a gift card or a free sample. The hope was that this would incentivize people to stay around the business for a bit.

“I want people to hopefully anticipate and say ‘I know you’re in a hurry, but we’d like you to come back,’ and ‘here’s a coupon’ or what have you,” she said.

The chamber also heard a general tax update on some of the changes made to the business tax system this year. Comer also gave the update and noted there were no big changes.

She presented information on the loan system and what business owners would need to know for possibly using them.