LOGAN SQUARE — Dozens of Logan Square businesses will offer up special deals and holiday cheer for this Saturday's Holiday on the Square, the third year the event is being held.
The event was launched in 2011 by three business owners who thought it'd be fun to have a neighborhood holiday celebration all while promoting local business.
"We were going to have Santa at the toy store and it just kind of rolled into this idea into having the whole neighborhood event," said Ann Kienzle, owner of Play toy store.
So she teamed up with the owners of Fleur and Provenance to recruit a dozen or so other stores, bars and restaurants to offer up special deals for one big holiday event.
Fast forward to this Saturday when 40 businesses will provide discounts, treats and other special offers to those who mention Holidays on the Square.
Goodies run the gamut from free miniature bottles of shampoo and conditioner from The Bird's Nest Salon to $100 of a set of eyeglasses when you make an eye exam appointment with Contacts and Specs and buy a bag of coffee beans at Intelligentsia.
Bucket o' Blood Books and Records will donate a book to charity for every book bought in the store Saturday and Lula Cafe will be offering a special peppermint cocktail at a discount.
"I think each year they're finding more and more ways to be creative and make it bigger," said Dunlay's on the Square general manager James Miller.
This year Dunlay's will be selling $4 pints of Revolution Brewing's Fistmas Ales.
"I know people get tempted to go to a big box stores and the corporate chains," said Ald. Rey Colon (35th), "but the majority of our businesses are residents who live here and work here so it's important to keep them fiscally solvent and our neighborhood moving forward," he said.
A full list of participating businesses and their offers can be found here, and the deals will run during the respective businesses' regular hours of operation.
This year, long red ribbons will be placed in front of all the participating stores.
