With the holidays quickly approaching, the Downtown Improvement District (DID) is starting programs to bring more business to State College stores.

Teresa Sparacino, director of the DID, said parking is free every evening from 5 to 10 p.m., from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturdays and all day Sunday. The DID also occasionally feeds meters that have run out during the week.

"It's more convenient to know that you can park and not worry about your meter," Sparacino said.

The DID is also running a raffle for shoppers of downtown stores. For every $50 in receipts turned in to the DID by 4:30 p.m. Dec. 22, shoppers are entered to win one of three prizes: more than $1,000 in downtown gift certificates, a 27 inch flat screen television or one free movie rental per week for a year.

The winners will be selected on Dec. 23.

To gain student business, the DID is running student discount nights from Dec. 8 to 12 at many downtown businesses. Participating businesses are offering Penn State students discounts from 6 to 8 p.m.

Sparacino said she hopes the discounts entice students to shop downtown instead of at large, suburban retail stores.

"With the student discount night, it's worth their while to shop downtown. You are getting the same merchandise and supporting the local economy," she said.

Sharon Lester, manager of Tadpole Crossing, said the store does not rely on students for business, but she hopes that students will shop at the store.

"We hope that they will do some of their shopping before they leave town," Lester said.

Elaine Meder, co-owner of Webster's Bookstore and Café, 128 S. Allen Street, also hopes to have more student customers over the holiday season.

"We have a lot of regulars who are students," she said.

However, Meder also admitted it was sometimes hard to gain student business.

"It's hard to get students and faculty to come down off the hill," Meder said.

Some students said they would shop downtown for their friends and family. Rhonda Mays (senior-international politics) said she would do some shopping downtown because she works on College Avenue.

However, she said that she thinks better discounts would bring in more student business.

"I think if there were good sales downtown, they would [shop there] because there are really cool stores," Mays said.

Molly Durkin (senior-geography) said she loves shopping downtown.

"I like being able to go outside from shop to shop," she said.

Durkin added that she did not mind paying more downtown if she was looking for a special gift for a friend or family member.

Youth programs are also available to those bringing children with them to do some shopping. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays until Christmas, Schlow Memorial Library, 100 E. Beaver Ave., hosts a reading of The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg. The readings begin every 15 minutes and are followed by a trolley ride to Santa's Workshop at 214 Calder Way where the children can shop and spend time with Santa Claus. Children attending the program are given a velvet pouch with a "downtown dollar" to spend at the workshop.

"It's just part of our holiday programs. When we do programs, we always gear them toward children," Sparacino said.