SHARON, Pa. – Two neighboring Shenango Valley communities are partnering to promote community engagement and support for small businesses over the next two weekends.
The collaboration will begin this weekend with Shenango Valley Light Up Weekend. The city of Sharon will host its annual Night of Lights tree-lighting downtown from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, with the Christmas tree lighting taking place at 6 p.m. That will be followed the next day by Hermitage’s 27th annual Holiday Light Parade at 6 p.m.
Next weekend, the two Mercer County cities will partner to mark Small Business Saturday in the Shenango Valley as part of the annual focus on patronizing small businesses the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
The collaboration grew out of the two cities’ previous cooperative effort on a façade grant program a couple years ago, said Mark Longietti, director of business and community development in Hermitage.
After Angie Urban joined Sharon Community Development Corp. in 2024 as its executive director, Longietti – who serves on the Sharon CDC’s board – said they initially discussed partnering on Small Business Saturday.
“We’d been having some conversations about the opportunity to really boost the brand of the Shenango Valley, to try and lift us all, recognizing that we can work with each other, and it’s probably stronger than anything we could do by ourselves,” Urban said.
“People that shop in this area come up and down State Street, and they don’t even know where the border is right between the two communities,” Longietti said. “It all blends into one, and so it made a lot of sense for us to come together and do some joint marketing.”
Historically, Sharon had hosted its Night of Lights event and Small Business Saturday as separate events but in recent years did them the same day, Urban said. This year, city officials wanted to explore what it would look like to again host them separately, “recognizing that on Small Business Saturday we really want to make the focus on our businesses and shopping and our small business owners,” she said. Night of Lights is “a community event feel that’s much more about just gathering together and celebrating the community.”
‘Complimentary and Not Competitive’
Sharon officials then reached out to Hermitage to see if they had any issue with moving Night of Lights to Nov. 21, the day before Hermitage’s parade and the weekend before Small Business Saturday.
“They wanted to make sure we’re OK with it, because our parade is the next day. We said we think it makes a lot of sense,” Longietti said. People look to participate in multiple activities over a weekend, and marketing everything going on under the Weekend of Lights banner would highlight all of the events taking place.
“We met several times with the folks from Hermitage to just try and make sure that all of our efforts were complimentary and not competitive,” Urban said.
Events and activities taking place as part of Sharon’s Night of Lights will include reindeer petting, horse and carriage rides and the lighting of the cherub statue.
Other Hermitage events taking place in association with the Weekend of Lights include the Merry Christmas Mile fun run and fireworks before the parade Saturday, and the Holiday Hustle entrepreneurship fair Saturday and Sunday at the eCentre @ LindenPointe, featuring 35 vendors, food trucks, coffee and wine. Artists from Hope Center for Arts and Technology – commonly referred to as HopeCAT – painted windows of downtown storefronts this week.
Small Business Saturday, started in 2010 as a campaign by American Express to promote patronizing local businesses, takes place Nov. 29 this year.
Several businesses plan to offer sales promotions and giveaways or host special events at their stores, Urban said. In downtown Sharon, merchants again will participate in a Downtown Shop Around basket giveaway to encourage patrons to enter various downtown establishments, she said.
Some shops downtown are hosting pop-up events featuring multiple vendors, including Allie’s Sweet Tooth, she said. Several local artists are combining for an Artie Gras pop-up at 110 E. State St.
The city also is selling a Sharon gift card that can be used at participating merchants, she said.
According to this year’s Shop Small impact study conducted by American Express, 95% of small business owners agree that community support keeps them thriving, up from 86% in 2024. In the same study, 86% of consumers said they were likely to patronize small businesses, either in person or online, this holiday season, and 76% of consumers agree that small businesses are essential to their community.
Plans for Small Business Saturday
Merchants in the two communities also emphasized the importance of patronizing small businesses as they shared their plans for Small Business Saturday.
Unwind Day Spa, Salon & Boutique in Sharon is doing a couple of giveaways – four packs of infrared sauna sessions and salt room sessions, each worth $200, and is offering a special on gift cards, owner Danielle Benic said. The shop also will be raising funds for Lydia’s Love Moments, which supports mothers of babies with heart conditions while they are staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Pittsburgh.
Supporting small businesses is important to promote community growth. “We can keep our money spent locally to support families that are right here in the area,’ Benic said.
Small Business Saturday at Gifted at Applegate in Sharon will be different from previous years, owner Jen Krezeczowski said. About a third of the gift shop, which opened six years ago, has been converted into “more of a café” in an effort to evoke the vibe of her former Lulu Beans Café “in a little bit of a new way,” she said.
Krezeczowski said people are becoming more aware of the importance of patronizing local merchants. Shopping local builds community, keeps money in the area and “creates opportunity for more local folks,” she said.
Dawson’s Geek Comics in Hermitage is planning “deep sales” on back issues and may bring in an artist to do quick sketches, “trying to keep it fun,” owner Cliff Dawson said.
“Small businesses are going to keep the money in the community,” he agreed.
Carlee Webb, owner of Webb Winery in Hermitage, is looking forward to the two weekends.
“It’s great for the communities to work together,” she said. The entire Small Business Saturday weekend has become a celebration, and she is looking forward to the parade Saturday, which goes right by her shop. While she doesn’t expect to benefit much from Friday night’s activities in Sharon, she said it’s nice that the two events “piggyback on each other and keep that momentum going.”
Beyond the two-weekend celebration, Longietti and Urban foresee opportunities for both communities and the larger Shenango Valley to promote local businesses and activities.
“There’s a great opportunity to brand the Shenango Valley,” Urban said. Discussions have included a joint event at Buhl Park, at the edge of the two communities, and entities such as Shenango LaunchBox, which assists entrepreneurs throughout the Valley.
“People look at the Shenango Valley and don’t notice the borders of the communities,” Longietti said. “They want to support small businesses. They’re looking for community and family activities, and we think that we have a stronger punch when we market these activities and businesses together.”
Pictured at top: Angie Urban stands in front of Allie’s Sweet Tooth in Sharon as Ashley Vaughan of HopeCAT paints a window at the shop.