LEXINGTON, Ky. — A Kentucky organization is leading the charge to help downtown businesses in Lexington get back on their feet now that restrictions are being lifted after months of closure due to coronavirus.

DowntownLex Together is a new program created by the Downtown Lexington Partnership that runs from June 15 to July 31 and promotes different ways to shop, dine and support local businesses around downtown Lexington.

“The concept for it stems from another program that we run in the winter, called the 'Shop and Celebrate Program.' The idea of it really is just to do what we can to help get people back into the community back shop and downtown," explained Harrison Stiles, marketing and event coordinator of the Downtown Lexington Partnership. "I'm starting to get back in that habit of actually going out to the businesses or just supporting them in ways that you might not have been able to with the COVID-19 restrictions in place.” 

Organizers say their goal is to keep the concept simple. If you shop anywhere downtown at all, just keep your receipt and text “downtown” to 474747 to register, and when prompted, send a picture of your receipt. This will register you into a weekly raffle for one of two $50 gift cards and then into an overall raffle for $500 in cash

"Being able to market that for them gives them either an added platform or a bigger platform to get their products out there," added Stiles. "There are services out there and let people know that hey, we're still here, we made it through this period, now we need your help continuing forward." 

Along with incentivizing people who live in Lexington to get out and shop local, Stiles says this campaign is also a great free, marketing tool for downtown businesses to show off their services and display how they're working to keep customers healthy and safe while shopping.

For a list of downtown businesses and their hours of operation, click here.