It’s A Month Full of Special Awareness Days

V. Hugh Lewis II/Jefferson Jimplecute

Being in the newspaper business I see lots of opportunities to promote “special days” every given month. usually these are tied to promotions or trying to give me ideas to sell more ads and give awareness on different speciality topics.

Usually I just ignore them, because, let’s face it, I have more than enough to do. Heck, I’m only writing this because my back is hurting and I’ve got to sit here on a heating pad for the next couple of hours and have that rare time where I’m almost caught up for the day.

But, for the Month of September, here’s the list of things that all have special days:

• Labor Day: Sept 1
• National Hunting and Fishing Day: Sept 27
• Grandparents Day: Sept 7
• Hispanic Heritage Month
• Suicide Prevention Month: County also declared this this week, the City probably will at the end of the month.
• National Coffee Day: Sept 29. I did a contest last year on this one. I had all five coffee shops in town participating. Offered a $25 gift certificate to each place for the winner. Had ONE person buy a cup of coffee from each location and turn in the form for the drawing.
• Yoga Awareness Month 
• National Sewing Month 
• Skin Care Awareness Month 
• Mold Awareness Month 
• National Waffle Week: 1st Week of September, I’ve seen both Sept 3-8 and Sept 4-9 for this year. Personally I’m confused about waffles anyway, so why can’t their week be confused too?
• National Lobster Day: Sept 25
• National Pet Insurance Month 
• Youth Soccer Month 
• World Tourism Day: Sept 27
• Voter Registration Day: Sept 16
• First Day of Fall Sept 22
• Emergency Preparedness Month

And that’s just September, and Just the days the service suggests I try and sell ads for to promote their businesses and show support for the issue/item.

It’s not a bad idea. It could be fun to do some of these too. The coffee day I tried last year. It was cool. I thought it would be fun. Participation was lacking at the end of it all, but picking the winner for $100 worth of gift cards was easy – there was only one.

International Waffle Week on the other hand, just seems silly. But I’m not a waffle fan. Pancakes, yes. Waffles, no. And yes they are different. I will only fold in stiff peak egg whites into pancake batter for people I love – and that’s pushing it…

September is also Emergency Preparedness Month. The idea is to offer up information to help people prepare themselves for emergencies. This one I’ll be trying. So watch online for some “bonus” content in September on things you can do to prepare yourself for emergencies.

If anyone wants to help sponsor it, let me know. I’m happy to put your company’s logo and information on the bottom of the pages as they go out. And, it’ll be reasonable. Say $25 a page, or $150 for all 20 of them.

But they’re also already pitching Christmas ideas at me. Really? I’m still wearing white. I’ve got until Monday and then that’s gone for another year.

Bottom line is there are lots of fun things your business or organization can do to promote a small town. I’ve got tons of graphics and ads – online and in print – that can support those ideas. Let’s take the time to start coming back together and promoting each other. There are plenty of businesses I know of, and that I don’t, that I don’t fully know what all they have to offer. Let’s try and fix that this year. Local business is good for local lifestyles.

Come join me for a cup of coffee on National Coffee Day (Sept 29) or even a waffle (Sept 3-9), but let’s support our local businesses and shop local and have some fun while we’re doing it.