By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
We have a winner, already.
It didn’t take long for someone to step forward and claim the $10,000 grand prize in this year’s Shop St. Joseph Holiday Program.
The St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce reports the winning ticket has been verified and a news conference will be held this afternoon.
New this year was a $2,500 prize for shopping local and shopping small. The Chamber created the Shop Small Business Bonus this year for the first time. That number is 1722584. No winner has stepped forward to claim it.
Even if you didn’t win the $10,000 or the $2,500 shop small business bonus, hang on to your tickets. There are several second-chance prizes that will be announced later.
This is the 17th year for the local holiday shopping program. The program’s goal is to keep holiday spending in the local economy, so sales tax collected goes back into helping St. Joseph and Buchanan County projects. Shop St. Joseph is presented by First Option Bank.