Central Huron Gift Card Program wins Provincial Award at Ontario BIA Convention

by Bob Montgomery

Central Huron's Gift Card Promotion has been recognized with an award at the recent Ontario BIA Convention.

Central Huron Community Improvement Coordinator Angela Smith says the Gift Card Promotion has been running for about a year now and it's a community based gift card available in any denomination up to $250. Smith says what makes the card unique is that it can be spent in any one of the 72 participating businesses in Central Huron. The beauty of that is that if a store closes or changes ownership or re-locates, that gift card will still be honoured at any one of the other 72 businesses in Central Huron.

Smith says their Gift Card Program won a provincial award at the recent BIA Convention for that very reason. “We were recognized because we included all of the businesses in Central Huron that wanted to be part of it, as opposed to just downtown stores. So home based businesses accept it, farm gate businesses accept it, rural enterprises as well as the businesses in the town of Clinton. 

Smith says it's something that larger cities have had for a few years now, but it's something new for small towns and it has become quite popular.