The Downtown Bloomington Association is hosting free trolley rides, series of giveaways and other special attractions from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Photo courtesy of downtownbloomington.org)

Across the U.S., local shopkeepers are gearing up for an annual holiday kickoff event promoting the virtues of shopping local.

Bloomington-Normal is no exception to the recognition of Small Business Saturday, which is being held across the country this weekend, on Nov. 24.

Several local organizations, including the Downtown Bloomington Association and Uptown Normal, are pulling out all the stops and planning events around the communities’ local business communities.

This year, a still-burgeoning organization, Illinois Wesleyan University’s Small Business Development Center, also is offering up its resources with a first-ever 25-page promotional booklet that is putting a spotlight on 64 businesses — the majority in Bloomington and Normal.

“We did this in a period of six weeks,” Karen Bussone, director of the SBDC, said of the booklet’s creation. It can be downloaded via the front page of the organization’s website, www.mcleancosbdc.org.

The booklet lists, by community, the local shops taking part in this year’s Small Business Saturday and what specific festivities or promotional offerings are being made available.

From Bussone’s vantage point, the SBDC’s involvement in Small Business Saturday was a logical, natural fit.

“The idea is that we’re the utility to help connect people or help people interested in a business get started,” Bussone said.

She envisions the promotional booklet being an annual part of the Small Business Saturday fabric within McLean County. Next year and beyond, Bussone said she would like to expand the directory and include a larger geographic footprint across the full county.

“We want to bring the rural communities into this as well,” Bussone said.

While the SBDC shepherded the booklet’s creation, it did so with collaboration from a number of other local organizations, including the city of Bloomington, town of Normal, West Bloomington Revitalization Project and McLean County Chamber of Commerce.

Illinois Wesleyan University’s Small Business Development Center has produced a booklet to promote local Bloomington-Normal businesses on Small Business Saturday.

As has been in the case in years past, a number of local organizations are holding events wrapped around individual shops’ sales.

The Downtown Bloomington Association is hosting free trolley rides, in addition to a series of giveaways, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Santa also will make his debut appearance this weekend and will continue doing so through Sunday, Dec. 23.

For the first time this year, the Downtown Bloomington Association is partnering with WJBC-AM and Two Men and a Truck for a philanthropic event aimed at ensuring all children receive a gift this season. A semi will be stuffed with goodies for a Toys for Tots drive.

Tricia Stiller, executive director of the Downtown Bloomington Association, said she believes rallying around local businesses is important this season — and, for that matter, the rest of the year.

“When you don’t support (local shopkeepers) — that not only hurts small businesses, but a community as a whole.”

Over at Uptown Normal, organizers are planning many of the same crowd pleasers as in years past, including free carriage rides throughout the morning and afternoon of Small Business Saturday.

Santa also promises to make routine visits to the heart of Normal throughout this festive season.

“Small Business Saturday is a really big deal for us in Uptown Normal,” said Rachelle Leuty, communications specialist with the town of Normal. “We’re planning a lot of the same things as last year because they worked so well for us.”

Since its introduction by American Express in 2010, Small Business Saturday has been strategically sandwiched in-between two holiday kickoff sales.

The Black Friday sales at traditional chain big box and mall-based retailers on the day after Thanksgiving are a time-honored tradition, and Cyber Monday sales are designed to spur additional spending on the day after the long holiday weekend.