SALISBURY — In the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day, Downtown Salisbury, Inc. is asking shoppers to show local businesses some love.

From Tuesday through Thursday, DSI will host the Love Local campaign to give retailers and restaurants a boost and to give customers a chance to take home a prize for Valentine’s Day.

For 10 days, customers who purchase an item from a participating downtown business will be entered into a drawing for a prize basket featuring items from local retailers. The drawing for winners will be held on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14.

To enter, shoppers will fill out a form or scan a QR code while being checked out after making a purchase. The more a person shops, the better their chances of winning. A no-cost way to submit an entry is by writing a “valentine-o-gram” and putting it in a mailbox located in front of Rowan Cellular Repair on the Square. The “valentine-o-gram” forms will be available near the mailbox.

The Love Local campaign was developed after the postponement of the annual Wine About Winter event due to rising COVID-19 case numbers. Wine About Winter was initially scheduled for Feb. 4.

“Wine About Winter is an economic driver for our downtown,” said Latoya Price, events coordinator for Downtown Salisbury. “During the winter months, it’s a lot slower, which is another reason why the merchants started Wine About Winter. In lieu of it, we were thinking what we could do to still drive customers and visitors into our downtown to shop, eat and visit.”

Downtown Salisbury is planning to host Wine About Winter in June, but it hasn’t announced a specific date. The event was also postponed to June due to the pandemic last year.

Downtown businesses interested in donating an item for the gift basket can contact Price at latoya.price@salisburync.gov no later than Friday, Jan. 28. Downtown Salisbury is encouraging businesses and shoppers to use the social media hashtags #LetsLoveinthePandemic and #LovethruCOVIDLocally when they participate in the campaign.