By Recker McDowell —
The city of Peoria is hosting a virtual Second Saturday event on May 9th to help promote small businesses as well as local restaurants, musicians, and artists. Residents and business owners can attend the event at www.facebook.com/Peorias2ndSaturdays.
Local business and entrepreneurs are being hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is the type of event all communities need to be doing and not just now.
Even after states and communities lift their business closures and shelter in place orders, it is going to take a while for the economy to get going again. More than 30 million jobs have been lost (at least temporarily). It is going to take time for some consumers to get spending again depending on their job situations.
Businesses will also need time to ramp back up their operations. That includes rehiring workers, updating inventories, and spending again.
Small businesses are on the frontlines of the COVID-19’s economic destruction. They are the lifeblood of our communities (including in Peoria and the West Valley). They are job creators and tax revenue generators.
Small businesses also do not have the advertising budgets for TV, digital and other ads big multinationals and national brands use to market to quarantined and at-home consumers.
Communities (that means the local public and private sectors) need to rally around our small businesses to help them survive the pandemic.
That is what Peoria is doing with the virtual event.
But the effort cannot stop now or over the summer. We need sustained and long-term support for the backbones of our local economies and communities.