Thanksgiving's Over, Old Town Shopping Events Begin

Santa and his elves kick off this weekend's shopping events when they visit on Black Friday, and local shops will be participating in an event Saturday to help convince shoppers to buy local.

Saint Nick stops by Old Town at 9 a.m. Friday as the "Spark of Love" toy drive kicks off in front of the . The drive, sponsored by KABC-7 News, has collected more than 500,000 toys over the last 19 years. Toys can be dropped off in front of Krikorian or donations can be made online.

Then on Saturday, Old Town merchants will participate in Small Business Saturday,  a campaign sponsored by American Express that seeks to promote shopping at small businesses throughout the country by offering monetary rewards to cardholders for shopping locally.