Moonlight Madness in Marble Falls brews up sales, fun for shop-local event
When out shopping for 'spook-tackular' savings and specials Oct. 24 during Moonlight Madness, look for this pumpkin hanging in the windows of participating businesses. More than 50 businesses are jumping into Moonlight Madness this year to start off the holiday shopping season but also attract new customers. Staff photo by Daniel Clifton
DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR
MARBLE FALLS — The idea is simple: Throw a pre-holiday shopping event by adding a dash of humor, costumes, sales and specials as well as a few surprises, shake it all up, toss it out and see what you get.
Moonlight Madness.
And on Oct. 24, more than 50 businesses and shops in Marble Falls are looking to attract regular customers as well as entice some new faces through the door.
“Moonlight Madness is a great opportunity for we retailers to draw in new consumers to see what we have,” said Jeff Ford of Ford & Crew Home and Hardware, 1400 Ninth St. “It’s a great event to, hopefully, show consumers that there are stores here in Marble Falls that have everything they would find in larger cities.”
Moonlight Madness, a joint venture of The Picayune, KBEY 103.9 FM Radio Picayune and the Marble Falls/Lake LBJ Chamber of Commerce, is a one-day, shop-local event. The concept is to entice people to shop at local stores.
Participating retailers and businesses will display a pumpkin on their front window. Inside, shoppers will find the staff dressed up in costume, specials or other things to make for an enjoyable shopping experience.[box]IF YOU GO
WHAT: Moonlight Madness 2013
WHEN: Oct. 24 with businesses open late
WHERE: At participating Marble Falls-area businesses
FOR MORE: Pick up a copy of the Oct. 23 edition of The Picayune — free on newsstands — for a map of participating businesses, shopping deals and more.[/box]
“One of the things I love about it is it’s designed to make shopping and retail fun,” said Bill Rives, the chamber’s executive director. “I’m hoping that a lot of the stores take advantage of the day and really go all out. And then the folks out shopping can just have a great time shopping and exploring stores they may never have set foot in before.”
One of the benefits for shoppers, besides finding great deals and discovering that shop they never new existed, is the possibility of winning something. Each of the participating businesses will have punch cards. Customers can pick up a punch card at any of the participating locations and, if they get at least five holes punched by visiting other participating shops, they are eligible for a grand-prize drawing.
Once a person gets the five holes punched, just drop it off with the last business visited (after writing your name and contact information on it), and it will be turned in for the drawing.
Many of the participating businesses will be offering door prizes of their own, so shoppers who hit as many stores as they can increase their chances of winning something.
Over the years, new businesses have popped up, offering fresh places for shoppers to explore.
Or, in the case of Ford & Crew, which has been a Marble Falls staple for many years, Moonlight Madness offers another chance to bring both regular and new customers in or to reintroduce the store to people.
“We look forward to Moonlight Madness because it is a chance to bring in new consumers and show them what we have here in Marble Falls,” Ford said. “Plus, it’s a fun, festive holiday event that everybody enjoys.”
daniel@thepicayune.com