ESCANABA — The annual Downtown Sidewalk Sales in Escanaba will be held on Ludington Street, Saturday, July 25, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

This year’s event will be unlike previous years’ sidewalk sales in some ways, and the same in others.

“We’re not shutting down the streets this year, but we’ll still put our deep summer discounts outside on the sidewalk instead of the street,” said Lisa Ann Boutique owner Lisa LaLonde.

Participating store owners will have special summer sales on racks inside and outside their businesses.

“I’ll be limiting how many racks I put outside this year, for social spacing,” LaLonde said.

Each store has taken actions to keep employees and customers safe and will monitor the number of people inside their business.

LaLonde said she couldn’t let the sidewalk sales event go by this year.

“Small businesses were closed off for two months,” said LaLonde. “Most lost all that income. All the grant help was tied to the number of employees a business had.”

Instead of making $20,000 to $30,000, a small business could receive $1,000 an employee. LaLonde looked into the payroll protection program, but that didn’t work for her either.

“I had three employees, we didn’t get much help. That didn’t cover what I lost during that time,” LaLonde said. “We don’t want to give up sidewalk sales, we’ve given up so much already.”

For many small retail businesses sidewalk sales come second to Black Friday when it comes to filling the register.

“It’s good to patronize your small self-employed downtown businesses, they really took a hit,” said LaLonde.

The Escanaba Farmers Market will be open Saturday from 8 a.m. until noon on Ludington Street.

Check Friday’s publication of the Daily Press for further details.