Margaritas were flowing over the weekend as businesses in Downtown Sealy welcomed guests through their doors for the second annual Margaritas on Main event to celebrate Small Business Saturday. Despite the gloomy weather, shoppers came from Sealy and beyond to support local businesses and the Shops of Downtown Sealy.

Attendees were invited to tour the downtown businesses and try complimentary margaritas at participating shops. Many of the businesses reported great turnouts from the shoppers ready to start their holiday shopping locally.

“The weather’s kind of bad, but we’ve had a steady line of people through here all day it has been really nice. They’re not just lining up for margaritas, they’re buying (items),” said Lani Miller of the Twisted Willow. “Supporting local (businesses) keeps your community with jobs and it makes us thrive, and we give back to the community a lot. It does us well. I’m glad that Chelsea (Humes, Sealy’s Main Street Manager) makes an effort to make it an organized deal.”

Enthusiasm for supporting small businesses was abundant as guests made their way from shop to shop exploring the stores and trying free drinks provided by some of the businesses.

“We had a great turnout (considering) the weather. We had repeat people that came last year from out of town. We had a lot of people that came in from out of town to do it again,” said Babette Smith of Patches by Smith and Co.

After attendees’ votes were tallied on a Facebook live stream, Patches by Smith and Co. received the most votes for the best margarita and was able to keep the trophy for a second consecutive year. Smith explained that events like last Saturday’s help the Downtown district tremendously and that many of the shops work to make the event great for all guests.

“We’re building Downtown Sealy and we are working really hard to have events. If you don’t support your Downtown, who’s going to? We all try to bring our prices down so everybody can afford to come down here and have a good time. It’s good for families,” said Smith.

Whether guests sampled margaritas or completed some holiday shopping, the Small Business Saturday event gave attendees the opportunity to enjoy Downtown Sealy.

“I think it just kind of gets people out into their own community and just gets people to support each other,” Kayla Andersen of Saddleback Saloon Bar and Grill said of events that promoted small businesses like Margaritas on Main.