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The folks at Harlan Tourism are once again delivering an incentive for back-to-school shoppers to do their shopping in downtown Harlan. A prize of $225 will be awarded to one downtown shopper via a drawing with shoppers getting one chance for every $25 spent in a downtown retail business from mid-July until mid-August.

Laura Adkisson, Downtown Development Director for Harlan Tourism, provided the details on the Shop Downtown Harlan for Back-to-School drawing during a recent interview.

“We feel like we have a great selection of shops covering all sorts of needs in downtown Harlan,” Adkisson said. “We want to put shopping downtown at the forefront of folk’s minds as they’re looking at their back-to-school shopping.”

She pointed out that for many families, back to school shopping is one of the largest expenses.

“Their biggest shopping of the year happens for back to school and at Christmas,” Adkisson said. “We want to make sure our downtown businesses can benefit from that as much of that as possible.”

This is the second time Harlan Tourism has held the drawing.

“We started this campaign last year,” Adkisson said. “We encourage people to shop in our downtown businesses, and of course downtown you can find everything from back-to-school clothing to band instruments, you can find spirit gear for Friday night games, and even a new set of tires to get you to and from campus.”

Entering the drawing is simple and easy to accomplish.

“Whatever it is that you need, if you purchase it in downtown Harlan bring your receipt to the Harlan Center,” Adkisson said. “For every $25 you spend in a downtown retail business, you’ll receive one chance in a drawing for $225 to celebrate the start of the 2025 school year.”

Adkisson explained what is considered downtown Harlan.

“It’s the historic downtown area, that’s pretty much from the Harlan Center all the way to the floodwall on the north end of town and from Harlan City Schools out to the bypass (U.S. 421),” Adkisson explained.

There is no limit on entries per shopper.

“The more you spend the more chances you have,” Adkisson said. “We will have the drawing in mid-August, and someone will get a nice little prize to start off the school year.”

The winner will be contacted by phone as well as being posted at the Harlan Center.

“If you haven’t been in downtown Harlan recently, you may be really impressed with the selection of boutiques and shops that we have,” Adkisson said. “I encourage people to come and check it out. If you want a guide to show you what’s in downtown Harlan, we have downtown dining and shopping guides available at the Harlan Center.”

The event runs from July 14 through Aug. 14.

For more information, call the Harlan Center at 606-573-4156.