Can I offer an opinion on the buy local first idea? Our town has a beautiful and diverse downtown shopping area. It has always been fun to shop downtown and you know most of the owners as they are your neighbors and friends. This past Christmas season, the downtown association in our area ran an ad campaign that made me not step downtown once for Christmas. Everyone on our list received gift certificates to the 'big box' stores. The reason? The ads the association ran were very negative. Instead of making me want to go into the local stores, the ads implied that if we didn't spend our $$ locally, we were rotten citizens of the town. That was sure incentive to me - not- For heavens sake, offer me hot apple cider and a smile, a chance to win a $10 gift certificate. In all fairness, the big box stores employ my neighbors and friends also. Now that the ads have stopped, I am back downtown doing my part. Trust me, I am not the only one who felt a negative message was not worth their advertising dollars.