We’re Celebrating! Feel Free to Join Us!
We’re Celebrating! Feel Free to Join Us!
Making Floats, Raising Funds and Saving Lives… What’s Not to Celebrate?
COUNTDOWN TO MARDI GRAS
It’s been a wacky winter, but the slopes are still (mostly) covered in white and ski season is very much alive! We’ve had an unusual mix of winter and spring conditions bouncing back and forth through the season, and it appears that pattern may continue as we head into March. For those getting ready to hang up the poles, don’t do it yet! NOW is the best time to make the trek to Ellicottville, as many of our ski town’s beloved events are just around the corner, including the Mardi Gras Parade and Holiday Valley’s Winter Carnival… just one week away!
The Ellicottville Chamber has been busy organizing parade applications and assisting our downtown business district with their Mardi Gras themed promotions. New this year, a number of local businesses have teamed up to offer the “Ellicottville Mardi Gras Boutique Crawl”. This one-day event gives visitors an opportunity to explore all of the wonderful shops and enter in some pretty rad giveaways.
On Saturday, March 9th from 10:00am-6:00pm, visit as many shops as you can, accompanied by your Crawl card, then turn it in to be entered to win a number of gift baskets filled with great products donated by many of the local retailers. Crawl cards can be picked up and dropped off at Cupcaked, Wild Roamer or Ava Grace Fashions (all are located on Monroe Street). BONUS: Complimentary Ellicottville, NY tote bags will be given to the first 25 Crawl participants, so plan to start your shopping excursion early! (Stay tuned to the Ellicottville Chamber’s Facebook Live this Friday for all the details.)
Following your full day of shopping, head to the sidelines of Ellicottville’s main drag to watch the annual Mardi Gras Parade, scheduled to march down Washington Street at 6:30pm sharp. Word on the street is that The Brass Machine will return to perform live in the parade, and “The Janky Pickle” limo is expected to make its Mardi Gras debut.
Want to join in the fun? Read up on how you can take part in this year’s festivities, see the Ellicottville Chamber’s Mardi Gras article.
ELLICOTTVILLE’S INCLUSIVE PLAYGROUND
Hey, for those of you that do plan to visit Ellicottville Mardi Gras weekend, please set aside some time to visit the Ellicottville Town Center, where the Ellicottville Playground fundraising committee will be hosting a Community (Indoor) Garage Sale. The committee, which banded together just last summer, is comprised of local moms and dads who desire to replace the current playground at the Ellicottville Village Park with a brand new inclusive playground. The committee is clear in their mission to provide a playground where every single child - no matter their abilities - can play and learn.
To raise enough funding for a project of this size is no easy feat. With a price tag of $500,000, the committee is asking for all the support they can get. Like they say, “it takes a village”. This one will also require the generosity of our visitors, too. And who knows? You may just find something at the Garage Sale fundraiser that you didn’t even know you needed!
Details: Saturday and Sunday, March 9th and 10th from 8:00am-4:00pm at the Ellicottville Town Center, 28 Parkside Drive. Cash and Venmo will be accepted. Donations needed! Clean out your space and donate items to be sold. Donations can be brought to the Town Center between March 4th and 8th. Suggested items include gently used toys, household items, outdoor items, etc. With spring just around the corner, this is a great time to declutter (and then re-clutter once you discover all the great stuff at the Garage Sale!)
Would you like to learn more about the Ellicottville Playground project? You can search “Ellicottville Playground” on ellicottvilleNOW.com for previous news articles, and follow Ellicottville Playground on Facebook for other upcoming events and fundraisers. Perhaps you’re interested in volunteering your time to help them reach their goal? Email ellicottvilleplayground@gmail.com and find out how you, too, can make a difference.
THE POWER OF PRINT MEDIA
Everyone meet Owen! This 9-year-old beagle suffers from diabetes and dermatitis, and the medications he requires have become increasingly expensive for his owner, Cynthia. Without medication, Cynthia would have no choice but to put this sweet boy down. Thankfully, a friend of Cynthia’s picked up a copy of ellicottvilleNOW and saw the ad for Flair’s Warriors, a non-profit that helps to alleviate the financial burdens of necessary prescriptions for sick and disabled dogs.
Thanks to Flair’s (and Cynthia’s friend who took interest in reading our paper), Owen’s application for his life-saving medications was submitted and approved. It warms our hearts that ellicottvilleNOW was able to help bridge the gap between a dog owner’s love and the financial assistance needed to keep her fur baby alive.
If you or someone you know is in need of help to pay for their pet’s medications or if you’d like to make a donation, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Flair’s Warriors. You can find them on Facebook and Instagram (@flairswarriors), and be sure to tell them ellicottvilleNOW sent you!
On the flip side, our digital outreach has provided some pretty great results as well! We have the tendency to get “social-media-happy” on a regular basis, posting about many of the great local organizations, businesses, people and events as often as we can. We can’t help it… we love to brag about Ellicottville! Our advertisers love it, too! In fact, our publication exists because of our advertisers - they are the foundation that keeps us in operation. And one of the ways we can express our gratitude to those businesses that advertise with us, is by promoting them on our social platforms. Sometimes those posts provide a lot of traffic, sometimes not so much. Sometimes we surprise even ourselves!
On February 20th, we spotlighted Ellicottville’s beloved Depot Restaurant. The property owned by Moose and Vicki Brown is up for sale and is listed with licensed real estate salesperson Jake Northrup of Holiday Valley Realty. No doubt he’s received more than a few inquiries about it already. On Facebook alone, in just one week our post impressions have exceeded 30,000 with an engagement number approaching 8,500. Talk about effective advertising!
If you’re interested in promoting your business or event in ellicottvilleNOW, let’s talk! Our team gets pretty excited when there’s new content to promote. It’s what we do!
