Troy Crawford, above, who lives and works in the area, won a new iPod Touch through the Uphams Corner Main Streets promotion. Photo courtesy UCMS.

A promotion held over the holiday season helped to increase foot-traffic and sales in the Uphams Corner business district - and resulted in a belated Christmas gift for one lucky customer. Thirty-eight businesses participated in the two-day "Passport to Uphams Corner" event and welcomed as many as 30 passport holders into their stores.

"This was an impressive number of participants given that a major snow storm took place on the first day of the event," said Zach Cohen, the executive director of the Main Streets group in Uphams Corner.

The contest required passport holders to visit as many participating stores as possible during the two-day event. It came down to a tiebreaker, as two shoppers ended up visiting 37 stores each. For the tiebreaker, contestants were required to recall names of the businesses they had visited.

Troy Crawford, who lives and works in the area, won the tie-breaker, and went home with a new iPod Touch.

Cohen says the group plans to repeat the promotion later this year. For further information on UCMS or Passport to Uphams Corner, or to inquire about membership or volunteer opportunities, visit the UCMS website at uphamscorner.org or call 617-265-0363.