Main Street announces Golden Ticket contest winner

Golden Ticket: Evelyn Deese was the winner of Main Street El Dorado’s Golden Ticket Shopping Spree. From left, Carol McDade, El Dorado Insider, Deese, winner of the Golden Ticket Shopping Spree, Beth Brumley, executive director of Main Street El Dorado and Clark Hale, El Dorado Insider.
Golden Ticket: Evelyn Deese was the winner of Main Street El Dorado’s Golden Ticket Shopping Spree. From left, Carol McDade, El Dorado Insider, Deese, winner of the Golden Ticket Shopping Spree, Beth Brumley, executive director of Main Street El Dorado and Clark Hale, El Dorado Insider.

Evelyn Deese of Ruston, Louisiana, was the winner of the $1,500 Golden Ticket Contest downtown shopping spree, which was awarded by Main Street El Dorado.

The contest, which was a promotion to bring people downtown to shop locally, was featured in the El Dorado Insider’s Holiday Gift Guide and the winner was announced on Dec. 20.

“We feel like it was a success,” said Beth Brumley, executive director of Main Street El Dorado. “All of the merchants downtown said they had a great holiday season and hope it continues into the new year.”

In addition to the $1,500 grand prize, there were four smaller drawings for $125 that took place each Thursday from Nov. 22 to Dec. 13.

Entry forms were available at numerous stores mainly located in downtown El Dorado, and each week three individuals were selected to be finalists for the grand prize.

Brumley said they didn’t actually give cash for the prizes, but coins that acted like cash.

The shopping vouchers awarded worked like cash at the participating El Dorado shops, restaurants and entertainment venues. The only stores not located downtown that were participants of the shopping spree included Especially For You, Timmin’s Hardware and South Arkansas Eye Clinic, which also served as locations where people could enter the contest.

Brumley said all but about four stores in downtown El Dorado allowed for the golden ticket coins to be used at their shops.

“What they would do is the customer would come in and spend their golden ticket coin and then that merchant would contact our office and we would give them the actual cash in exchange for the coin,” Brumley said.

Brumley added that it was harder for restaurants to participate in the shopping spree because of the amount of employees who handle money.

“At a retail shop, it’s usually only one or two people so everybody would know what was going on, but with restaurants it’s harder for all of the individual cashiers to keep up with coins and understand what’s going on,” she said.

Brumley said the individuals who won the $125 gift cards were all local, and Deese, who won the $1,500, is an El Dorado native who now lives in Ruston.

This year is not the first time Main Street El Dorado has offered the contest, though it took a hiatus last year. Brumley added that she plans on bringing the contest back next year.

Kaitlyn Rigdon can be reached at 870-862-6611 or krigdon@ eldoradonews.com.

Upcoming Events