The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Kicks off before 12 Days of Holiday Cheer
This week people will be able to cash in on a 20 percent discount at participating local stores and services after $25,000 in Butte Bucks go on sale Thursday, December 5. Then on Friday, December 13, the Chamber will kick off its 12 days of Holiday Cheer event with the lighting of a 44-foot blue spruce in Mountaineer Square.
The Crested Butte-Mt. Crested Butte Chamber of Commerce revived the Butte Bucks program in 2007, putting $20,000 in Butte Bucks up for sale. Last year the Chamber minted 2,500 of its own coins for the promotion with the seals of Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte on either side.
For two hours on Thursday morning, the Chamber will sell the coins, worth ten Butte Bucks, for $8 at the visitor’s center in the Mt. Crested Butte transit center. Friday, the coins go on sale at 9 a.m. at the Chamber’s Crested Butte Visitor’s Center at the Four-way Stop.
Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Dan Marshall said this year the Chamber dropped the participation fee for the program and he’s definitely seen an increase in participation because of it. Butte Bucks expire on January 1.
“We’re going to pump about $25,000 into local businesses,” Marshall said. “So we’re really looking forward to getting the economy going for the holiday season.”
And the Butte Bucks sale is just the start of what he hopes is a busy and festive holiday season in the north end of the Gunnison Valley, with plenty of chances to sit with Santa and eat your fill of s’mores.
The 12 days of Holiday Cheer event will kick off around 5 p.m. on December 13 in Mt. Crested Butte’s Mountaineer Square with outdoor fire pits, s’more stations and hot chocolate while people wait for santa and the lighting of the 72 strands of LED lights strung around a 44-foot blue spruce. Crested Butte will host its own tree lighting the following night, also starting at 5 p.m.
