If you have, then we would like to hear from you! Please take a minute and write it down. In these tough economic times our local businesses need all of the support they can get. Great stories about downtown can help change perceptions that people have. You don't have to sign your name, but stories like these are priceless and we can use them to help promote our upcoming Shop Local campaign. Please send your remarks to director@rochestermainstreet.org , or even better yet, as a letter to the editor at jnolan@fosters.com . Working together, we can make this happen!

Saturday, May 1, 10 am to 4 pm-Jetpack Comics and Rochester Main Street Volunteers partner to celebrate National Free Comic Book Day. Hundreds of people will visit downtown Rochester businesses on a Scavenger Hunt as they receive a complimentary comic book. Also on hand are costumed characters, a Vendor/Illustrator exhibition at the Knights of Columbus Hall featuring illustrator John Herman, a BMX Exhibition in the Union Street Parking Lot and much more! Participating businesses include Cocheco Equipment Company, Studley's Flower Gardens, Café at The Governors Inn, The Portable Pantry, Jenny-Wren Gallery, Union Street Antiques and Collectibles, Fat Tony's Bar & Grille, Slims Tex-Mex Saloon, Carney Medical, Jetpack Comics, Victoria Reed's, Tri-City Bicycles, Project Pride and the Rochester Public Library. For more information please contact the main street office at 603-330-3208 or at director@rochestermainstreet.org. Volunteers are needed.

Saturday, May 8, 8:30 am until 12:00 noon- Rochester Clean Up Day/Downtown Pride- Rochester recreation Department and Rochester Main Street will partner to rake, clean, sweep, mulch, prune, plant and fertilize throughout the city. Main Street is seeking site sponsorships at $100 to cover the cost of plantings. To sign up for the Downtown Pride or for more information please contact the main street office at 603-330-3208 or at director@rochestermainstreet.org. Volunteers are needed.

Friday, May 14, 5:00pm to 9:00pm- Paint The Town Purple!-Got your purple ready? Relay For Life and Rochester Main Street will partner with local downtown businesses to create an awareness of the Annual June Relay for Life and raise funds for cancer research. Entertainment in Factory Court, free popcorn, information, in-store specials, special restaurant choices and a luminary lighting in Central Square are planned. For more information please contact the main street office at 603-330-3208 or at director@rochestermainstreet.org. Volunteers are needed.

Saturday, June 12, 11:00 am until 3:00 pm-Rochester Shoe Festival-Will the Shoe trees Bloom in Time for the Shoe Festival? This First -Ever Family Fun Event/Street Fair is brought to you by the Rochester Main Street volunteers. Food, fun, arts, crafts, entertainment and more are on tap as events include the "Shoe Fly", "Giant Shoe Scramble", "Ugliest Sneaker Contest" and "Gentlemen's High Heel Race". Rochester organizations and businesses are free, but you need to pre-register to reserve a space. Vendor forms are available on line at www.rochestermainstreet.org or for more information please contact the main street office at 603-330-3208 or at director@rochestermainstreet.org. Volunteers are needed.

A recent article in Foster's Daily Democrat promoted a great effort that has been circulating around the country. The idea is to support your local businesses that you do not want to see go out of business through an incentive called the 3/50 Project. It's easy: pick three local stores you don't want to see go away, spend $50 a month among them. I believe that this is something that each and every one of us can do - even in these tight times. The logic is simple. Buying a pair of shoes locally pays the salary of someone who works and lives locally. That money, in turn, goes to buy a loaf of bread at the bakery which employs local workers. This activity generates state and local tax revenues that also stay closer to home. Just keep this simple idea in mind as you buy what you need.

If you want to know what's going on downtown and what's new at Main Street, check out our Rochester Main Street Facebook page. Coming soon is twitter, which will get you instant updates. Visit us at facebook.com/Rochester Main Street. Are you a fan?