Small Successes

With the weather in the mid-60's and musicians playing outside the , downtown Wakefield felt more like a summer festival on Saturday than the end of November. A steady stream of shoppers were out and about on Main St., comfortably strolling in the sun and scooting in and out of the stores.

“It's been crazy!” said the staff at . “We've been very busy all day.” The store was having a inventory wide 30 percent off with 20 percent off gift card sale, which undoubtedly helped pull in the shoppers but the general concensus was that the advertising campaign by American Express helped to put Small Business Saturday in the minds of consumers focused on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Lisa Branson, the owner of , said the store experienced tons of foot traffic. “We had a lot of specials, which I am sure helped” she said. Lots of traffic was spotted at and as well as in .

James DeSalvo and Phil Adams set up a couple of speakers and brought their guitars and vocals out to entertain the crowds. When asked for a band name they looked at each other until Adams laughingly came up with “Late for Dinner”. There were a couple of artisan tables on the sidewalk too, adding to the summer festival vibe. Lisa Ryan had a table of handmade pouches and purses and holiday décor and Jennifer Eaton was showing her handmade wampum jewelry. Eaton shared a table with Julia Kasper of Sweet Pea Glass, who had stained glass ornaments for sale.

Although shopping locally can be done every day, the next festive time to do so will be Ladies Night on Main wich will be held on Thursday, Dec. 1 from 5-9 p.m. There will be sales and surprises in all the stores along with refreshments and horse drawn carriage rides.