Summer Butte Bucks selling briskly

$80 gets you $100

More than 10 percent of the summer Butte Bucks were sold in the first day-and-a-half of the promotion. Sponsored by the Crested Butte-Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce, $50,000 in Butte Bucks are available to the public.

For $80 in cold, hard cash, a participant can get $100 in Butte Bucks. Those bucks can be spent at participating stores in Crested Butte or Mt. Crested Butte. The stores then can redeem the Butte Bucks at full value through the Chamber of Commerce. The difference has been made up by contributions from the towns of Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte in a summer economic stimulus effort.
“We sold $3,500 the first day and I think they’ll move pretty quickly,” said chamber events manager Scott Still. “Right now, we have 23 participating businesses but we expect to see a lot more. It’s a matter of getting the information out to them.”
In the winter promotion that takes place primarily in December, more than 40 businesses agreed to take the bucks. They signed up over the course of two weeks. This summer, two dozen local businesses had jumped on board by Tuesday, and more businesses can still sign up. There is no need to be a Chamber of Commerce member to participate. Each participating business is charged $30 to cover the costs of the promotion. The bucks can be redeemed at any time, through Labor Day weekend. So far, some restaurants, retail shops and service businesses have signed on.
“Getting a 20 percent discount is a good deal and it hopefully will get people out shopping locally,” said Still.
Butte Bucks can be purchased at the Crested Butte Visitor Center until they are gone.