BUSINESS AFTER HOURS
It ’ s a Mask-uerade Party
Business After Hours has traditionally been a networking event
in which people visit the host business allowing that business to promote themselves and their products . Like many social events and gatherings , several of the Business After Hour events were cancelled .
Challenged with what they could do to entertain people in the parking lot of their bank , BancFirst put together a Mask-uerade Party adding a twist to the traditional mask someone wears to a masquerade party . The masks worn to this party covered the patrons ’ mouth vs their eyes as you would experience with the traditional party .
When the Stillwater Chamber of Commerce reopened this event , there stood the social distancing challenges for the host . The first such challenge was a requirement to hold the event outdoors providing more space between patrons .
The second challenge was to provide food and beverage for the group in a safe environment . BancFirst took on the challenge to hold the event and added an element to it which promoted other businesses
while promoting their own .
BancFirst looked to the sidewalk for the event , as they had been instructed to do , but took it one step further . Their idea of a great time in Downtown Stillwater came to include promotion of not only their business , but the businesses surrounding them .
Located in the heart of Downtown , they had a keen sense of how the downtown merchants were feeling from the COVID-19 closures to several of their neighboring businesses .
“ Downtown is a vibrant business community in and of itself in Stillwater . BancFirst has been an integral part of downtown for the past 120 years . We saw an opportunity to share the festivities
and promotion that came with our Business After Hours and we took it ,” said Pat Zimmerman , BancFirst President .
The attendees enjoyed the shopping while the merchants were thrilled to have the patrons visit their business .
Also , wanting to share their event guests with the downtown merchants , BancFirst gave an opportunity to downtown merchants to take part in a walk around . The party attendees were given a map upon arrival and asked to walk downtown gathering tickets from the participating merchants on the map . Both the merchants and the participants enjoyed the cool fall afternoon walk . Merchants were able to enjoy the company of approximately 80 participants in
their stores and the participants gained chances to win prizes purchased from the downtown merchant participants .
Many of the attendees found stores and merchants who they had never visited . Likewise , the merchants were thrilled as they were able to ring up several sales from the Tuesday afternoon crowd .
The attendees enjoyed the walk , shopping , and well needed camaraderie with others while the merchants were thrilled to have the patrons visit their business . The event wrap-up was filled with made to order Dirty Curty gourmet dogs , drinks , laughter and prizes to the winners .
It was a beautiful evening in Stillwater to bring businesspeople together , support and promote one another .
Story by Terri Collier
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COMMERCE | 2021 Profile Magazine of the Stillwater Chamber of Commerce