Let’s face it, even though our county has so much to offer, we get into our routines – go from work to home and back again, get busy and don’t always get to those places we’ve been meaning to. Then we had the stay at home orders, and that, and worry for our county’s small business survival, got a few of us thinking.

Local real estate agent, Nancy DuLac (Parshall) got together with me, a few other concerned citizens, the Granby Chamber of Commerce, and the Grand County Board of Tourism, to put our heads together and find additional ways to support small businesses throughout the county. If we couldn’t go to, and into the businesses, why not bring them to a screen near our friends and neighbors countywide? Nancy DuLac and agent Kristie DeLay (Granby) have invested in state-of-the-art virtual tour filming technology from Matterport, Inc. out of Sunnyvale, CA. This technology is next level touring sweeping the real estate industry. Through donation of their time traveling the county and filming, equipment and hosting, the result is over 20 small business tours that you can enjoy and explore from the comfort of your device and a fun contest to raise awareness of all the wonderful things small businesses across the county have to offer.

Our tagline is HAVE FUN, WIN PRIZES and SHOP LIKE a LOCAL! To play, simply go to our Facebook page at facebook.com/grandcountystrong and scroll down to the first posts and proceed in order. We didn’t have a budget to create a webpage, so we got creative in utilizing the Facebook page to host the contest. Once you get the hang of it, you will be hooked!

Another rewarding facet of this event, for me personally, is the art contest we incorporated into the project. We needed branding and desired to feature and promote local art and artists. When you first visit the page, scroll all the way down to the first posts and read about the artists that submitted work and our winner Ryan Sasso. Honestly, we are pretty blown away by the amazing branding he designed for us and his original artwork. Read the Q&A post on our page and learn more about this great local talent! Ryan won 2 golf passes to Grand Elk and a cash award, but his contribution is worth so much more.

The best part about the branding artwork is you can own it in the form of high quality Ts and Hoodies being printed for us by Mountain Mama’s Screen Printing and Embroidery out of Kremmling. Purchase through the SHOP tab on the page and show local pride, contribute to a great cause and get extra contest points and after contest discounts for wearing your swag to participating businesses!

Although we are almost half way into the contest, It is never too late to start earning points, tour and make all of the discoveries you will be treated to exploring our county’s smalls from Kremmling to Grand Lake, Granby, Fraser and Winter Park. Now you will have that must go reason to do your own real touring of the county for months and years to come.

Weekly prizes include $25 gift cards and merchandise from the shops and restaurants. Grand Prizes will be based on the amount of money we raise with all proceeds going to contest participants.

The contest goes through the third week of June with Grand Prizes being announced the following week. You can start anytime and earn points by finding objects, solving riddles, commenting, sharing, buying contest swag and sharing selfies in your swag. Get your friends and neighbors playing and you absolutely don’t have to live in Grand to play and SHOP LIKE a LOCAL!

If you have any questions about the contest, how to buy Ts and Hoodies or to donate, please message us on our page or call me at (303) 725-8554.