The moose is loose in Woodland Park between Feb. 10-25 and savings are in its path.

The 2024 Moose Is Loose Sales Event will feature 35 businesses from Woodland Park and the surrounding areas. The annual kickoff starts on Feb. 10 at 9:30 a.m. in the Tweeds Fine Furnishings parking lot, with the doors opening 30 minutes later. The first 250 shoppers will receive a special Moose swag bag from participating merchants.

“This year, the Moose is celebrating being Alive in the Alpine and prices will be falling faster than the thermometer,” organizers said in a press release. “With deals up and down Main Street from fifteen to seventy-five percent off, Valentine’s specials, and kid-friendly activities, there’s something for everyone.”

The idea for the Moose Is Loose Sales Event was birthed during a creative meeting at Tweeds in 2001 as a way to survive the slow winter months. Little did the owners know it would turn into a decades-old tradition.

Tweeds decided a February sale was ideal because it gave shoppers a chance to recover from Thanksgiving and Christmas, while appealing to their growing desire to shake the cabin fever that begins to set in after the excitement of the new year has died down.

Tweeds held this sale annually with growing success, and before long, pitched the idea to others on Main Street, with the idea that if several businesses were having a big sale, more people were likely to brave the elements to come out and shop.

“The Moose himself is a whimsical and curious creature who eventually stopped ransacking stores and became a friend to the business community,” organizers said. “He has a perpetual case of wanderlust that leads him to visit various destinations during the year, but every February, he gets homesick for his friends and returns to Woodland Park as a celebrated and honored guest.

“His arrival marks the beginning of three weeks of great deals and fun events for the community to enjoy, as a way of fondly remembering his chaotic visits.”

The Moose is also very impressionable, the release said, and each year, influenced by his travel experiences, comes back as a slightly different iteration of his previous self. Over the years he has returned as an artist, a politician, and a Wild West cowboy, just to name a few — and that iteration inspires the theme of the ensuing celebrations in February.

What began as a way for small business owners to drum up business during the off-season has become a tradition that brings families out to enjoy food and entertainment, meet others in the community, and make wonderful memories together, while businesses continue to keep free enterprise alive in small-town America for another generation.

That’s a win-win for everyone involved.