An evening of shopping, food & drink, giveaways & fun!

Dozens of downtown businesses and pop-up vendors, as well as the Pittsfield city government, will participate in this year’s event.

Pittsfield Mayor Gary Mendenhall stressed the importance of Girls Night Out on the Square and other events that encourage residents to get out on the town and shop local.

“From the city’s perspective, anytime money is spent here and local businesses are promoted, that’s a good thing for everybody,” Mendenhall said.

Like in most years many participating businesses will have pop-up vendors set up inside their businesses with even more items for attendees to explore and purchase.

Kaye Iftner, former Executive Director of the Pike County Chamber of Commerce and current Chamber Board Treasurer, said that the Chamber and Pittsfield Main Street originally developed Girls Night Out in 2009.

“This is a fantastic event for Pittsfield and really all of Pike County,” Iftner said. “It has grown from 20 or 30 participants the first year to over 700 registered participants from over 50 communities from here in Pike County and beyond. It’s truly a remarkable event.”

Current Chamber Executive Director David Camphouse said attendees at the 11th Girls Night Out on the Square in Pittsfield can expect a variety of activities and shopping opportunities.

“We’re excited to welcome hundreds of women from throughout the region to beautiful, historic downtown Pittsfield,” Camphouse said. “It will be a night full of shopping, live music, raffles and giveaways, and – of course – food and drink with friends.”

Camphouse encouraged attendees to support local businesses.

“We’re happy that this event brings extra foot traffic to local businesses,” Camphouse said. “It’s a great way to kick off the holiday shopping season. We know from experience that even attendees at Girls Night Out who aren’t actively shopping during the event are more likely to return once they see what these wonderful businesses have to offer.”

Harpole’s Heartland Lodge has generously donated the Grand Prize for Girls Night Out on the Square, a stay for two at the lodge. Extra grand prize drawing tickets are earned by attendees for each participating Girls Night Out business that they visit during the night.

For more information on the event, look for “Girls Night Out on the Square” on Facebook.

Girls Night Out on the Square is a cooperative event between the City of Pittsfield, the downtown businesses and the Pike County Chamber of Commerce.

For information about Girls Night Out on the Square, contact the Chamber at 217-285-2971 or send an email to pikechamber@casscomm.com.