ENTERPRISE — The Wallowa County Chamber of Commerce’s “Buy Local Blitz” comes to an end Wednesday, Dec. 20, as the effort to keep retail dollars in Wallowa County during the holiday season wraps up.

Jennifer Piper, executive director of the chamber, said Friday that the final weekly drawing for $1,000 in Buckskin Bucks would happen that day; the winner will be posted on the chamber’s Facebook page.

“It’s going very well,” she said of the initiative’s inaugural year.

Piper said there are currently 73 of the chamber’s more than 300 members who accept Buckskin Bucks. She noted that not all of the chamber’s members are retail businesses, so it’s not always practical for members to accept Buckskin Bucks.

For example, professional firms such as attorneys or medical facilities maintain chamber memberships, but it’s not always practical to pay hospital bills, engineering fees or attorneys’ bills with Buckskin Bucks.

“It may not make sense for them to participate,” Piper said. But those businesses can participate in the event even if doesn’t make sense for them to accept them.

She said businesses that don’t find it practical to accept Buckskin Bucks can make use of them as gifts.

“Businesses that accept Buckskin Bucks really like it,” she said. “It’s an additional revenue source for their businesses.”

Here’s how the Buckskin Bucks work: Shoppers make a purchase of at least $10 at any chamber-affiliated business that accepts them. Buckskin Bucks are similar to a gift card and can be used just like cash at any participating business.

Shoppers then take their receipts into the chamber office at its new location at River and Main streets in Enterprise. The receipts are entered into a weekly drawing for $50 worth of Buckskin Bucks. At the end of the blitz, all receipts are entered into a drawing for the grand prize of $1,000 of Buckskin Bucks.

Receipts are limited to one receipt per business per person per day.

Piper said she hopes the blitz helps increase awareness of the bucks and encourages businesses to increase their use. Last year, the chamber accepted $40,000 in Buckskin Bucks and the blitz increases that number and increases it in the future.

“It has been a very successful first year,” she said. “We hope to do this each year.”

Piper said the goal is to support local businesses.

“We try to make the program as simple as possible for anyone who wants to participate and it’s a great way to keep those dollars circulating locally within Wallowa County,” she said.