Feeling Creative? Feeling Festive? Submit a Design for this Year’s Raleigh Christmas Parade!

Greater Raleigh Merchants Association Raleigh Christmas Parade

The Greater Raleigh Merchants Association (GRMA) and Shop Local Raleigh (SLR) are looking for local artists to submit design ideas for the 67th Annual WRAL Raleigh Christmas parade. The WRAL Raleigh Christmas Parade Contest, sponsored by GRMA/SLR, will be accepting submissions from area artists from August 29, 2011 – September 26, 2011.

The winning design will receive $300 in cash, sponsored by Frameworks Gallery & Frame Design, Inc., member of SLR. The winning design will be used on the organization’s first official parade t-shirt, poster, and promotional items. The t-shirts will be worn by volunteers and sold to the public on the day of the parade held on Nov. 19 in downtown Raleigh.

“The Go Local message is a great unifying message for the Raleigh community and the new t-shirt will be a fun way to show your support,” says Emily Younger Wells, Board Member of GRMA/SLR.

Artists are asked to visit https://www.facebook.com/RaleighChristmasParade for rules and for submissions. The winning design will be selected by the GRMA parade committee.

For more information on the contest or to become a member of GRMA, log on to www.grma.org or contact Jennifer Bradshaw, GRMA Director at 919-755-9235 or info@grma.org.

About the Raleigh Christmas Parade
The Raleigh Christmas Parade will feature three giant helium balloons, approximately 35 floats, 20 marching bands and a number of other entertaining acts.

Drawing an estimated 60,000 spectators from across the state to downtown Raleigh and reaching more than 250,000 through television and live video streaming on WRAL.com, the parade is the largest single-day event in Raleigh each year. It is the largest parade between Atlanta and Washington, D.C.

About GRMA
The Greater Raleigh Merchants Association promotes the growth and sustainability of local businesses. For more information, visit www.grma.org.

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas… in June!

Those who have worked in retail or holiday event planning know that the holiday season comes very early to those whose businesses peak in the winter months – and two very festive opportunities are already coming your way in the next few weeks. Details of the first, the 67th annual Raleigh Christmas Parade, are below. Details of opportunity number two should be available in just a few weeks, so look for a follow-up post soon!

Greater Raleigh Merchant’s Association Announces 2011 Raleigh Christmas Parade

The Greater Raleigh Merchants Association (GRMA) announces their 67th Annual Raleigh Christmas Parade to be held on November 19, 2011 at 9:30am in downtown Raleigh.

Applications are now being accepted for all parade entries. Registration will close on September 16, 2011. Visit http://grma.org/christmas-parade/parade_schedule.html for the full parade schedule. If your group is interested in having a float, classic car, helium balloon, walking group or other entry, please visit the Greater Raleigh Merchant’s Association website: http://grma.org/christmas-parade/application.html and submit an online application. No applications will be accepted after the September 16 deadline. Applications are chosen based on realtionship to theme, creativity, entertainment, and community appeal.

Sponsorship and volunteer opportunities are also available. If your company is interested in sponsorship opportunities, please contact the executive director of GRMA, Jennifer Bradshaw at 919-755-9235 or jennifer@grma.org. If you are interested in serving on the committee, please email info@grma.org to receive more information.

The Raleigh Christmas parade is the largest parade between Atlanta and Washington DC. Over 250,000 will watch the parade live from home and over 60,000 will attend the parade in person. The parade will last approximately 2.5 hours and will feature something for the whole family.

Looking forward to seeing you and yours participating in the planning and production of the 2011 Raleigh Christmas Parade… or at least participating as an entertained audience member!

Come Join Us Today at a Few Shop Local Raleigh Events!


This month marks the two year anniversary of the launch of Shop Local Raleigh by the Greater Raleigh Merchants Association – happy birthday, SLR! Join us in celebrating today with two great local events:

Networking Event at Joint Venture Jewelry in Cary
From 4:00pm until 6:00pm, come and enjoy networking, great discussion, and a beverage with other SLR members, volunteers, and local business owners. (Don’t forget those business cards!)

Anniversary Party at Natty Greene’s in Raleigh
Shop Local Raleigh turned “2” on April 15th and to celebrate, we have partnered with NCSU marketing students to plan an Anniversary Party at Natty Greene’s Brewing Co. On April 28th, starting at 7 pm, there will be giveaways, $3 pints of local beer and fun guaranteed for all.

To add to the festivities, we have shared some fun statistics regarding small businesses, public relations, and the return on investment of email marketing, for SLR to use at these events. Along with those “trivia facts”, we’ve also included a special offer for event attendees – so be sure to check out what’s “in store” and “on tap” at these great events tonight. We’ll be back with those special offers here later on the blog, but we didn’t want to spoil the fun by giving them away in advance!

Cheers!

Fairway Adds First Digital Billboard Just North of Raleigh

I just finished reading an interesting press release on dBusinessNews (Triangle) – The Triangle Region Receives its First Digital Billboard. This is something that I might need to make a drive out to Wake Forest to see!

The most compelling sales features of a digital billboard like this is that advertisers can change up their promotional offerings in a digital format, instead of waiting weeks or even months to change the billboard display. Restaurants can now target breakfast consumers in the early morning hours and run lunch-time, dinner, or late-night advertisements at relevant times of day, too.

Non-Profits Take Note!
“As a good corporate citizen, Fairway is utilizing its digital capabilities to help promote local non-profits by providing no cost advertising on the new digital display. Some of the public service announcements will benefit the following non-profits: The Salvation Army, N.C. GreenPower, Franklin County Humane Society and Meals on Wheels of Wake County.”

I checked out Fairway’s website and didn’t immediately notice any calls to join its non-profit program or to submit your organization for consideration, but it would only take a few minutes to email the organization or give them a call to inquire.

I’m sure the display won’t show video or other types of truly attention-commanding media, as driver safety is likely a major consideration when getting local approval for a billboard display of this nature, but simply having a different advertisement displayed each time a driver passes (or showing 3 or 4 while the driver is stopped at a red light), means lots of promotional opportunity within one finite amount of space.

I do have to wonder why Fairway chose to place their first billboard of this kind outside of Raleigh in a more suburban/rural location, but my first suspicion is that it may have to do with local zoning.

Have you seen the new billboard yet? Tell me about it in the comments!

PS – Merry belated Christmas! I hope the holiday weekend was good to you all! Tank and Delta are sitting home now in front of the window watching the snow from this past weekend’s North Carolina blizzard fall from the trees.

Cheers,
Lisa