Area businesspeople were partying on both sides of Edgecomb's Route 1 on October 23 and 24.

On back-to-back nights, the Boothbay Harbor Region Chamber of Commerce and the Wiscasset Area Chamber of Commerce had Business After Hours events. Put on several times a year, the events put a spotlight on the businesses hosting them and give members a chance to network and hear about chamber projects.

At the Wiscasset chamber event October 24 at Sheepscot Bay Physical Therapy on Route 1 in Edgecomb, Wiscasset Town Planner Misty Parker said the holiday-timed “Think Outside the Box” campaign will have some changes for year two.

“We're hoping to step it up a little,” Parker said.

“Box” is a buy-local campaign that lets shoppers get “passport” stamps for every $20 they spend. A set of five stamps gets an entry into a prize drawing.

Plans call for “Think Outside the Box” to start with Wiscasset's early bird sale November 9. The drawing is set for December 21 at Le Garage, Parker said.

Organizers are still lining up prizes, Parker said; a number of community events will also be announced for November and December.

While the campaign could give businesses a boost, the chamber is already seeing one. Some more businesses have joined the chamber after learning that they need to be members to give out the stamps, chamber officials said.

At the October 24 gathering, Sheepscot Bay Physical Therapy owner Jean Beattie said the business moved to Edgecomb in June after six years in Wiscasset. The business also has a Waldoboro office, open Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Beattie plans to offer senior exercise classes, at $5 a session, at the Edgecomb office, which is open Tuesdays and Fridays.

She also encouraged people to shop around for their physical therapy. Many don't know they have alternatives to traveling to a hospital for treatment, Beattie said.

Across Route 1 in Edgecomb, at Peapod Jewelry, owner Ronna Lugosch got laughs from fellow businesspeople October 23 when she introduced herself as the “chief peas-maker.”

The peapod theme to Lugosch's jewelry grew from people mistakenly thinking that was the focus of her earlier, Round Pond gallery where she had used a peapod logo.

“Just about once a day people would come in and say, 'We came to see the peapod jewelry.' After I'd heard it enough times, I realized there was a strong interest in that,” Lugosch said.

Lugosch opened the Edgecomb store in July 2011. The business is doing very well there, she said. “We love it.” Peapod Jewelry also does online sales, at www.peapodjewelry.com.