Alastar Dimitrie, coordinator, Marketing and Events, GINCC

It’s been almost seven days since the West End’s first dusting of snow. Black Friday is less than three weeks in the future. Holiday shopping season is here. Whether you celebrate Christmas or Kwanzaa, Hanukkah or Diwali, the solstice or something else, you will probably find yourself buying more than the usual amount of stuff.

You will probably also find yourself feeling troubled by the increasing commercialization of the holiday season. GINCC would like to propose the following remedy: shop local.

Online shopping isn’t going anywhere. Certain items may be difficult to source locally. However, before you make online shopping your default, consider whether there’s another way.

Every time you give a locally-sourced gift, you’re also giving back to your community. Rather than digitally disappearing your hard-earned cash to enrich a massive corporation thousands of miles away, you are putting it back into the community where you live. The more money remains in our local economy, the more good it can do.

We were just as thrilled as everyone else to see Jeff Bezos blast William Shatner into space, but it seems unlikely that Amazon will be making any major investments in the West End of Marquette County any time soon. Local businesses are another matter.

Local businesses are more likely to invest locally. Local schools, nonprofits and other community organizations all benefit from the generosity of local business owners.

Local businesses also generate local jobs. Restaurants and retail establishments alike need people to keep them running. If you’re eating out, which we hope you are, please tip generously (tips make up an important portion of a server’s salary).

What about those specialty items that you can only find online? Check to see if a local business can order them for you. With supply chain delays, ordering online will not necessarily get your items to you any faster and you will be strengthening your local economy.

There are few gifts that could be more unique than something produced right here in the West End. Notwithstanding its many remarkable accomplishments, Amazon probably isn’t going to be delivering handmade quilts or home cooked meals made from locally grown produce any time soon.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Alastar Dimitrie is the Marketing & Events Coordinator at the GINCC. He currently resides in Marquette with his partner Kaitlyn and their cat family. He enjoys hiking, painting, reading and recipes involving rhubarb.