With the holiday shopping season around the corner, State Representative Elizabeth “Lisa” Hernandez, D-Cicero, is encouraging local residents to celebrate and support locally owned, small businesses on Small Business Saturday this Nov. 25th. “Small, locally owned businesses are the bedrock of our community,” Hernandez said. “So as we approach the holidays, it’s important to keep them in mind when buying holiday gifts for our friends and family. I encourage everyone to support businesses in our neighborhoods so that local dollars remain in our community rather than go to a multinational corporation.” Small Business Saturday was established in 2010 as an annual event to encourage holiday shoppers to patronize small, local businesses. Small Business Saturday follows Black Friday, and calls on residents to support these businesses through the course of their holiday shopping. “Small businesses are what make the economy of our communities grow,” Executive Director of the Little Village Chamber of Commerce, Jaime di Paulo said. “It is essential to support our community’s small businesses, they employ our neighbors and create wealth in our community.”