Quirks of Art – Sparkle Friday 2015
Quirks of Art is taking a VERY unconventional approach to ‘Black Friday’ this year. We cannot compete with the big box store’s discounts and doorbusters, and really, that’s not what we’re about anyway. So this year, we will be bucking the trend – by CLOSING our doors on the busiest shopping day of the year. Don’t worry, it’s just for the day 🙂 Instead, we will spend the day spreading good cheer in our beloved community. It’s very important that you read on…because for “Mission Sparkle Friday” to be a success, you need to participate too! So here we go….
Every holiday season at Quirks of Art starts with a pow-wow. Our team gets together and chats about Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday, and the holiday season in general. What have we learned from previous years, and what are we going to do differently this year? How do we make it all work for our small business, while making it special for our much-loved guests? How do we make it work for our families, and our personal values? Each year in the past, we’ve opened our doors and tried to make our gallery a pleasant and welcoming version of the decidedly American past time of Black Friday.
This year’s discussion, however, went a little differently. We discussed giving back to our guests, giving back to our community, and how all this could fit into the day’s format. Our list got longer, and we quickly realized – it simply wouldn’t fit. We could not open our doors the Friday after Thanksgiving, and do all the good we wanted to do. At first, we were discouraged; crossing worthwhile services off our to-do-list will do that. But then we decided to start from scratch! We made a list of every little good thing we’d like to do this Friday… and we’re closing our doors to go out and do them all! That’s right… Quirks of Art will be skipping all the bustle… all the hustle… and are closing our doors to spread all the good cheer we can to welcome in the most wonderful time of the year.
Consider this our ‘Sparkle Friday’ mission. We hope our spirit of goodwill will inspire others to join along. Follow us during the day on Facebook and Instagram (#sparklefriday) and share your own acts of goodwill…it sure beats standing in line, we promise. We’ll be ending our ‘Sparkle Friday’ at Quirks of Art… opening our doors – not to sell, but to collect food for the “Feed our Future” backpack program, which benefits 117 local schoolchildren who live in food-insecure households. This program is especially important for children over long holiday breaks and we can think of no better reason to “come into work” on the day (otherwise known as ‘Black Friday’) than to spread the light. We invite you all to stop by and bring non-perishable “lunch box” ready food items and celebrate our new ‘Sparkle Friday’ tradition with us ~ Friday, November 27th. There will be a collection box outside all day. But we’d love to see you, so stop by and say ‘hi’ and enjoy some special treats from 6-9PM.
It’s a brave new world. One that shouldn’t feel so brave…or so new. We are so PROUD to share our new GOOD adventure with you all.
Here’s how we plan to spend our day…
~ Treat some first responders to some holiday cheer
~ Share flowers with those who need them
~ Help others feel festive
~ Surprise a friend that you don’t see enough
~ Buy food products for food drive
~ Share some random acts of kindness
~ Make a donation to Toys for Tots
~ Pamper ourselves a bit, because, well, we all deserve it!
Sparkle is the new black.
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