MADISON — The Madison Chamber of Commerce is sending shoppers on a word hunt Saturday, in a quest to discover 12 words to complete a secret Small Business Saturday sentence and a chance to win a $250 grand prize.

The Madison Chamber of Commerce is sending shoppers on a word hunt to support Small Business Saturday. (Photo/Madison Chamber of Commerce)

Kick off the Word Trail by downloading the official Madison Small Business Word Trail sheet found here.

Each of 12 participating Madison retail stores have stickers with one secret word from a 12-word sentence. Shop each store and collect all 12 stickers to form the complete secret sentence.

Shoppers whose sheet contains all 12 words must drop their completed sheet into the bucket at the Madison Chamber of Commerce at 103 Spenryn Drive, Suite 100; or take a picture of your completed sheet and email it to felecia@madisonalchamber.com by noon, Dec. 2, to be eligible for a drawing to win the $250 grand prize.

The winner will be drawn at 3 p.m. and will be contacted by phone, email, and/or Facebook Monday afternoon.

The Madison Chamber of Commerce is known for creating fun and quirky promotions such as the Great Chicken Caper at the Madison Business Expo this past spring.

According to Pam Honeycutt, executive director of the Madison Chamber of Commerce, the Small Business Word Trail idea was presented to the Chamber by a member business as a way to increase traffic to locally owned businesses on Small Business Saturday.

“We loved the idea, and from there it was just a matter of working out the details and executing it,” said Honeycutt. “We came up with a special 12-word Small Business Saturday sentence, so we needed 12 participating businesses we thought would be fun places to eat or popular with families holiday shopping together.”

All of the participating businesses are home-grown small businesses in Madison or the Madison location of a locally owned franchise with less than 10 full-time employees.

All 12 are members of the Madison Chamber; they are Ace Hardware, Earth & Stone Wood Fired Pizza, Insanity Complex, Interiors by Consign, Madison Station Antiques, Main Street Café, Pet Supplies Plus, Rita’s Italian Ice, South & Pine Home, Taziki’s Mediterranean Café, The Dessert Fork, and Zion Gourmet Popcorn.

“We are excited to offer this new and entertaining way to experience Madison small businesses on Small Business Saturday,” said Honeycutt. “This is a great family fun activity and a wonderful way to shop local for all your holiday gift-giving.

“Supporting all our local businesses, now and throughout the year, enables our community to thrive and grow.”

She said if the Word Trail is successful this year, the Chamber will select different businesses and highlight other Madison shopping areas next year.