It’s Tuesday Happy Hour but here’s what else is coming up this week!

Handmade Trivia – General returns on Wednesday and Thursday we have a special edition of Buzz Bomb Board Games with Lincoln Library, The Public Library of Springfield, IL.

Friday we welcome back the The Ex-Bombers for another amazing live show and Saturday we have Adams Street Mario Kart Tournament fundraiser. Video games not your thing? There’s also a paint night fundraiser Sunday with B’s Creative Studio

Buzz Bomb Brewing Co Awarded $10,000 Backing Small Businesses Enhancement Grant through American Express and Main Street America.

On Tuesday, June 25, American Express and Main Street America announced the grant recipients for the Backing Small Businesses Grant Program.

Buzz Bomb Brewing Co, based in Springfield, IL was among the winners.

We are EXTREMELY honored and excited to be chosen as a grant recipient and cannot express how much this will help us right now. We submitted a proposal that was focused heavily on Buzz Bomb’s community involvement and included building improvements such as new signs for both us and Seoul 4 Soul, a variety of parklet improvements, a new mobile POS to allow Seoul 4 Soul to take orders downstairs and outside more easily, new equipment for our community events like open mic nights, trivia, board games, and more, funding to improve and expand our Dog Days of Summer events, Adams Family Events, and some advertising funds to get the word out on all this great news!

American Express and Main Street America yesterday the 500 small business owners who have been awarded $10,000 through the Backing Small Businesses grant program. The program’s 2024 grant recipients represent U.S. small businesses across all 50 states, plus D.C. and Puerto Rico. Later this year, grantees will have the opportunity to apply for an additional $30,000 enhancement grant that will be awarded to 25 small businesses.

Since launching in 2021, Backing Small Businesses has provided over $9 million in grants to 1,180 small business owners nationwide. American Express and Main Street America initially created the grant program to help economically vulnerable small business owners recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and grow their businesses.

This program is part of American Express’ “Backing Small” initiative to provide financial support and resources to small business owners experiencing economic hardships. Other Backing Small grant programs include Backing Historic Small Restaurants and Backing International Small Restaurants. Backing Small is an extension of American Express’ longstanding commitment to support small independent businesses globally, including through its Shop Small movement and Small Business Saturday campaign, celebrating its 15^th anniversary this year.

Meet the most recent Backing Small Businesses Enhancement Grant Recipients: https://mainstreet.org/the-latest/news/500-small-business-owners-receive-10-000-grants-through-backing-small-businesses-program

To learn more about the Backing Small Businesses grant program and learn about the grantees, click here.