Downtown Days spotlights small entrepreneurs

By Owen Boss

ASHBURNHAM — In collaboration with the Lions Club and the Ashburnham Business Council, the town held its seventh annual Ashburnham Downtown Days on Saturday, which offered area businesses the opportunity to showcase their wares while providing visitors with food and fun for the whole family. The event included stands featuring information and giveaways from the more than 300 area businesses, the local Lions Club offered free eye, ear and blood pressure screenings, a dunk tank and several bounce houses for the kids in attendance. Sallie Thoma, a member of the business council and coordinator of the event, said that the event has grown considerably over the past seven years, and is a way for the community to come together to celebrate everything Ashburnham has to offer. “People may not know this but Ashburnham has something like 300 small businesses and this event was originally started to highlight those smaller businesses and has evolved into the event it is today,” said Ms. Thoma. “And this is just a great great thing for our community.” One company playing a larger role at this year’s event was the Ashburnham Municipal Light Co., which is celebrating its 100th anniversary. Stan Herriott, manager, said that the company had taken it upon themselves to make this year’s event a success. “Because this is our 100th anniversary, we paid to put up this big tent this year and we are giving away energy-saving light bulbs and offering various information at our booth,” said Mr. Herriott. “There are a lot of businesses in Ashburnham that are little cottage businesses that no one knows about, and this is one way for them to get their word out.” In collaboration with the Athol Savings Bank, the light company provided children at the event with free bounce houses, something that he thought would create a more family-friendly atmosphere. “The bounce houses here are for the kids and we aren’t charging anything for them to use them which has been really successful to attracting families to the event,” said Mr. Herriott. “We had volunteers from the Oakmont student government to come in and supervise the houses so that the kids won’t get injured.” oboss@thegardnernews.com

Appeared on Page 1 on 6/30/2008 (Vol. 206 No. 154)