Northampton's Bag Day is basically a local holiday.
The night before Bag Day, special paper bags are put into the local newspapers, and then handed out downtown for a few hours the next morning. If you happen to posess one of these bags, you have access to all kinds of sales and discounts at participating local stores. Most shops offer 20% off of any one item, but plenty schedule their own promotions to fall on Bag Day. It's a great way to celebrate local small businesses and get ready for the holidays! (And it's getting more and more well-known. Even the Daily Kos wrote about it!)
This year, my three best friends from high school traveled from Boston and Vermont to participate in Bag Day. They spent the night on Friday and we had the chance to celebrate one lady's engagement, and another's acceptance into medical school. It felt like a (much needed) mini high school reunion!
The next day we started with gluten-free waffles at the Roost, and then hit the stores: Kestrel, Cedar Chest, Ode, Webs, and Faces among them, and we even came across a church fair! We wrapped things up with a delicious lunch at the Green Bean. This is one of my favorite early winter traditions, and it's so nice to celebrate it with friends I've had for 10 years.
Photos taken with my iPhone.
