Part trade show and part job fair, the Jackson County Area Chamber of Commerce’s first Buy Local Expo will take place Thursday at the Jefferson Civic Center.
It’s a two-part event.
From noon to 4 p.m., it’s free and open to the public. Guests can expect to see the products and services of 48 businesses and seven nonprofits, many of whom will have promotional items.
The businesses will also be ready to do business.
“Businesses can sell, and a lot will be hiring,” explained Linda Foster, the chamber’s vice president of member services. “A couple of the staffing companies will be doing job fairs at their booths, and there will be a lot of merchandise.”
Job seekers can also take advantage of a mobile employment lab from the Department of Labor.
“The Department of Labor and Lanier Tech are working on job opportunities,” Foster noted. “And the new state level initiative, Go Build Georgia, will have a display.”
The expo will close from 4 to 5 p.m. and reopen from 5 to 7, with admission costing $15 for adults and $10 for children. Each admission comes with two drink tickets — adult beverages for those 21 and over and soft drinks or water for the rest.
Ten restaurants will offer food samples in an environment Foster called “very similar to what we used to have in the Taste of Jackson,” and individual booths will conduct drawings for door prizes.
The expo will cap the chamber’s ongoing “Buy Local” campaign, a promotion that started in late 2011 and is aimed at encouraging residents to support the local businesses, keeping profits — and sales tax dollars — at home.
