Small Business Saturday celebrations will be held Nov. 26 around the Tri-Cities.

If you’re not completely tuckered out from fighting the crowds on Black Friday, the popular shopping day after Thanksgiving, then head out shopping again the next day to support small businesses.

“Small businesses are the grass-roots of any community,” said Gus Sako, owner of the Octopus Garden in Richland. “Small Business Saturday is good for awareness of that and it’s actually a pretty fun day for customers.”

The event is part of a national effort founded in 2010 by American Express as part of an effort to encourage people across the country to support small, local businesses.

Small businesses contribute to an area’s economy as prominently as any corporation and its owners take active roles in community causes, said Donna Holloway, owner of Threads Resale Boutique in downtown Kennewick.

Supporting small businesses builds a strong community where culture thrives and the arts flourish, Holloway said.

“Our aim is to help in the revitalization of downtown Kennewick where we are all small businesses,” she said.

Dara Quinn, who co-owns Emerald of Siam restaurant in the Richland Uptown Shopping Center with her brother Billy, believes small businesses are a vital part of a community’s personality and economic health.

“Small businesses definitely contribute to the community,” she said. “I think we have more variety and provide a more personal touch when it comes to customer service. The big stores have so many policies they have to adhere to that small businesses don’t have.”

The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution in 2011 supporting Small Business Saturday, according to American Express. By 2012, the event was celebrated in every state in the nation, and in 2015, 95 million people reportedly spent the Saturday after Thanksgiving shopping at small businesses.

“Small Business Saturday is much more than a day for shopping,” Sako said. “It’s about shop owners and customers getting to know each other.”

And that’s important, Sako added, because if he doesn’t know his customers he can’t provide them with what they want or need.