$20 challenge encourages residents to shop local and keep Big Horn Basin main streets strong

Two Big Horn Basin small-business owners are challenging residents to see just how far $20 can go when it is spent close to home.

Ronda Thatch, owner of The Fat Heifer, and Camie Smith, owner of Ranch Candy Mercantile, have launched the #BigHornBasin20Challenge, a social media campaign designed to encourage people throughout the Basin to intentionally spend about $20 with a locally owned business and then challenge someone else to do the same.

The idea grew from conversations between the two business owners about the importance of keeping local dollars circulating within the communities where they are earned.

“We wanted to find a simple way to inspire people to get involved in their local economy,” Thatch said. “Twenty dollars may not seem like a huge amount, but when a whole community makes the decision to spend some of those dollars locally, those small purchases can add up to something meaningful.”

The challenge also aims to bring awareness to the role locally owned businesses play beyond their storefronts. Small businesses are often the businesses supporting school fundraisers, youth sports, community events and local organizations. They employ neighbors, purchase from other area businesses and help create the main streets that give Big Horn Basin communities their individual character.

As Thatch and Smith put it when introducing the challenge: When was the last time Amazon bought cookies from your kid’s school fundraiser?

Participation is simple. Spend about $20 at any locally owned business in the Big Horn Basin. Then share a photo, Reel, Story, post or TikTok showing where your $20 went. Tag the business, tag friends and include the hashtag #BigHornBasin20Challenge. Finally, tag and challenge someone else to spend their own $20 locally and pass the challenge along.

The purchase does not have to be made at The Fat Heifer or Ranch Candy Mercantile. In fact, that is an important part of the campaign. Participants are encouraged to choose businesses throughout the Basin — from coffee shops, restaurants and boutiques to makers, service businesses, hardware stores and other locally owned establishments.

The challenge can be shared across Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, allowing each participant to take part on the social media platform they normally use.

Thatch and Smith hope the challenge will travel from community to community throughout the Big Horn Basin, introducing residents to businesses they may not have discovered before and reminding people that where they choose to spend even a relatively small amount of money can make a difference close to home.

“This isn’t about telling people they can never shop online or at a big retailer,” Thatch said. “It’s simply about remembering to look around our own communities, too. If we want thriving downtowns and strong main streets, all of us have a part in keeping them that way.”

The ultimate question behind the campaign is a simple one: How far can $20 travel around the Big Horn Basin?