The River District Association in Danville crafted Pints & Paper as a way to promote shopping locally on Saturday, offering gift wrapping — and beer — to those who showed a receipt from a downtown establishment. The Small Business Saturday movement, first launched in 2010 by American Express, is sandwiched between Black Friday and Cyber Monday as a way to put the focus on spending money at small operations to promote the local economy. Diana Schwartz, executive director of the River District Association, believes Small Business Saturday is instrumental to helping local businesses stay afloat. "It's your local business that's going to pay for your kid's little league uniform," she said. "If we're not going to support them, they're not going to stay." William Gwyn, an duathlon runner and Danville resident, also believes that the events increase awareness of local businesses. "It exposes people to the services they can provide," he said. " You get more personalized service, and the people tend to know their stuff more."

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