Nov. 28 was Black Friday in the United States, the day after American Thanksgiving and one of the biggest shopping days of the year in that country as stores drop their prices and shoppers get a head start on their Christmas purchases.

At 5:03 a.m. that morning, three minutes after a Wal-Mart store in New York was set to open Friday morning, a crowd of eager shoppers broke down the door and trampled an employee, killing him.

In Jasper, Friday was Moonlight Madness, the event when stores in town put their merchandise on sale for the evening. Warm drinks and snacks are offered at the stores, and some people do more visiting than shopping that night.

Friday was significant for a third reason. It was Buy Nothing Day, an idea created by a Vancouverite and promoted by AdBusters Magazine.

Buy Nothing Day, an international day of protest against consumerism observed by social activists, was conceived as a way to make people aware of the dependence we have on making purchases.

Going 24 hours without buying anything is a way to break the addiction. It lets people realize they don’t need to buy things all the time and helps them cut back on the associated waste.

Clearly, a number of people in North American didn’t buy nothing.

Is this a problem in Jasper?

Moonlight Madness is a fabulous way to give a break to locals who pay higher prices with the tourists the rest of the year. It gets everyone out on the street walking and socializing, which are certainly health benefits. It helps stores bring in business and clear out products. And it’s a good opportunity for people to get some Christmas shopping done cheaply.

The issue then, is that in such a forward-thinking place as Jasper, there are certainly some residents who would have liked to honour Buy Nothing Day.

But why purchase something on a Wednesday when you can get it cheaper on a Friday?

No one seems to know how the 15-year-old Moonlight Madness tradition began, though there are rumours that the Jasper Booster cunningly thought it up as an advertising ploy. There aren’t rules written about it anywhere, and it’s barely organized by anyone, if at all.

Why doesn’t someone take the initiative and plan next year’s Moonlight Madness for one week earlier, one week later, or simply on a Saturday, so we can take meaning from Buy Nothing Day and give our wallets a rest.

We can be thankful the insanity of Black Friday hasn’t reached us north of the border, and that in Jasper not only do we not take part in that craziness but also that we don’t havea Wal-Mart that opens at 5 a.m. with “door-crasher” deals.

Critics say people who recognize Buy Nothing Day will simply make their purchases the next day, that the event insults those who can’t afford to buy anything, or that it promotes inaction as opposed to action.

But whether Buy Nothing Day is a foolish concept or not, let’s give the people of this town, who are beautifully passionate about so many things, a chance to stand up for what they believe in.