"I have not won anything in many, many years," Reva Tennison told the Jacksonville Progress after her name came out of the first drawing of the 2026 Shop Local campaign on Friday, Nov. 6. She won $500 in cash from Citizens 1st Bank, and the winning ticket came from a $27.03 receipt at Roma's. The second winner that morning, Allison Rawlinson, took home $250 on a $29.52 Whataburger receipt. She told the Progress her family often stops there after church on Sundays.
Both winning receipts were under $30, and both came from regular meals out. That is how the Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce built its 7th annual Shop Local campaign. The entry bar is low enough that everyday errands qualify, and most of the money waits at the far end of the calendar. With tomorrow's double drawing and four more Friday mornings still ahead, most of the prize money has yet to be handed out.
Twenty Dollars Is the Whole Threshold
The Chamber's rules fit in a few lines. Spend at least $20 at a participating Jacksonville Chamber member retail business and you get one drawing ticket. A $25 lunch and a $250 purchase each earn one ticket, so the number of receipts matters and the size of each receipt does not.
Turn in receipts at any of six places:
- Austin Bank
- Cherokee County Federal Credit Union
- Citizens Bank
- Citizens 1st Bank
- Southside Bank
- Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce
You'll get one ticket per receipt. Fill it out with your name, the business, the amount spent, the purchase date and your phone number. Neither winner on Nov. 6 had a big stack of tickets. Tennison had entered about five, and Rawlinson said she had four. "We do it every year and I've never won," Rawlinson told the Progress.
The Chamber posts a few limits on its drawing pages:
Purchases must be made at a Chamber member retail business. The Chamber will monitor tickets for eligibility.
No more than two transactions within a three-hour period on the same day at the same business may qualify.
You do NOT have to be present to win!
A person cannot win twice during the same drawing.
The three-hour rule keeps someone from breaking one shopping trip into a pile of $20 receipts. The no-presence rule matters more for most people, since every drawing happens at 10 or 10:30 on a weekday morning. If you work an ordinary schedule, the ticket can win without you there. To check whether a store counts, start with the Chamber's business directory.
The Calendar Puts the Money in December
The campaign runs from Nov. 1 through Dec. 17, 2026, and the prize sizes climb as it goes. Here is the schedule the Jacksonville Progress published, starting with tomorrow:
| Date | Time | Location | Prize |
|---|---|---|---|
| Friday, Nov. 20 | 10 a.m. | Citizens Bank, formerly Texas National Bank | One $500 and one $250 cash prize |
| Friday, Nov. 20 | 10:30 a.m. | Brookshire Brothers Store #17 | $500 gift card |
| Friday, Dec. 4 | 10 a.m. | Prosperity Bank | One $500 and one $250 cash prize |
| Friday, Dec. 11 | 10 a.m. | Southside Bank | $500 cash |
| Friday, Dec. 11 | 10:30 a.m. | Super 1 Foods | $500 gift card |
| Friday, Dec. 18 | 10 a.m. | Austin Bank, Commerce Street branch | Two $500 and one $1,000 cash prize |
| Friday, Dec. 18 | 10:30 a.m. | Harry's Building Materials | $1,000 gift card |
Add up the rows and Dec. 18 alone carries $3,000, which is more than any two earlier Fridays put together. The two $1,000 prizes in the whole campaign both come that morning. The Chamber's page for that drawing lists one $500 cash prize from Austin Bank, along with a $1,000 and a $500 cash drawing sponsored by the Jacksonville Economic Development Corporation, or JEDCO. JEDCO has been involved from the start. Lana Horton, representing the corporation, drew Rawlinson's name on Nov. 6.
No drawing is scheduled for Friday, Nov. 27, the day after Thanksgiving. The Chamber's calendar for that date lists the ongoing campaign and no drawing. After tomorrow, the next drawing is Dec. 4, two weeks away. Holiday shopping keeps producing receipts during that stretch even though nothing gets drawn.
The ending is staggered too. Purchases count through Thursday, Dec. 17, and the last two drawings happen the next morning. Anything you buy that last week still lands just before the campaign's biggest prizes are drawn.
Groceries and Hardware Pay in Kind
Three drawings award gift cards, and the businesses holding them are where people shop week to week. Brookshire Brothers Store #17 gives a $500 gift card tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. Super 1 Foods gives the same on Dec. 11, and Harry's Building Materials closes the campaign with a $1,000 gift card on Dec. 18.
So the campaign works like a loop. A receipt from a local lunch counter, gift shop or hardware run can win a card that goes right back into a local grocery aisle or lumber yard. The cash prizes are spent the same way. Tennison told the Progress she planned to use hers on Christmas gifts for her four grandsons, and Rawlinson said hers would likely go to Christmas gifts as well.
The First Weekend of December Lines Up
The busiest stretch of the campaign also has two free downtown evenings, back to back.
On Thursday, Dec. 3, the Chamber's Annual Christmas Parade starts at 6 p.m. on Commerce Street at the corner of Bolton Street. This year's theme is "A Christmas Story," and the grand marshal is Brad Stewart, Jacksonville ISD superintendent. Watching is free and the parade is scheduled for 6 to 7 p.m. Entries line up at 5 p.m., the entry fee is $35 for Chamber members, and Congrats! Custom Gifts & Awards sponsors the parade awards.
The next morning, Friday, Dec. 4, Prosperity Bank holds its 10 a.m. drawing for one $500 and one $250 cash prize. That evening, the City of Jacksonville hosts Movie Night in the Park with "The Grinch" at Hazel Tilton Park, 174 E. Larissa St. Showtime is 6 p.m., the event runs until 9 p.m., and admission is free.
If you're downtown for the parade Thursday night, that's a good time to shop at Chamber-member stores along the route. Drop the receipts at a participating bank before the Friday drawings and they're in the pool. You don't need to be there when names are drawn, so a ticket entered that week has a chance at Prosperity Bank on Dec. 4 while you're planning which blanket to bring to Hazel Tilton Park that night.
Before You Hand Over a Receipt
A few practical details from the rules and the published schedule:
- Check the store first. Only purchases at Chamber member retail businesses count, and the Chamber reviews tickets for eligibility.
- Fill out every line of the ticket. Name, business, amount, purchase date and phone number all go on it.
- Use any of the six drop-off locations. The bank hosting a drawing doesn't have to be the place where you turned in your receipt.
- Remember the Dec. 17 cutoff. Purchases count through Dec. 17, and the last drawings are Dec. 18.
- Plan for a quiet Thanksgiving weekend. There's no drawing on Nov. 27, so after tomorrow, the next names are pulled Dec. 4.
The Chamber links the full rules from each Shop Local Drawing date on its events page.
I'll be dropping off my own receipts at the bank this season, the same as plenty of folks around town. If you're ever curious what your Jacksonville home is worth in this market, Norton Property Group is happy to put that number together for you. Get Your Free Home Valuation, then go see whose name comes out of the drum at Austin Bank on Dec. 18.
