As you may know, this week is the SBA’s 55th annual Small Business Week, an event designed to put America’s small businesses in the spotlight.

But, considering that the week consists of celebrations and awards held almost exclusively in Washington, D.C. and New York City — should you even care?

Fortune Small Business Magazine’s Brandi Stewart runs down the reasons why you might want to pay attention:

[A]fter more than 50 years, the annual Small Business Administration-run event still remains off the radar of many small business owners. …

Started in 1963 to spotlight small-business contributions to America’s economy, National Small Business Week features a mix of awards ceremonies, networking events, discussion forums and educational talks by politicians and business executives. Held in Washington, D.C., and New York City, the events will be webcast for the first time this year, so that entrepreneurs around the country can tune in.

“What they’ll get is the chance to hear from key leaders on some of the critical issues impacting small business, such as doing business with the government and going global,” said Susan Walthall, chairwoman of National Small Business Week and the SBA’s acting deputy associate administrator for entrepreneurial development. “We’re going to cover those two areas, as well as health care and the energy challenge.”

Most speakers on the roster this week are government officials, such as President Bush, United States Trade Representative Susan Schwab, and Michael Leavitt, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Small-business voices will surface primarily in panel discussions and during awards ceremonies.

Some business owners who make the effort to attend National Small Business Week events say they provide valuable information and networking opportunities.

Serial entrepreneur Peter Justen first learned of the week three years ago as he started his most recent venture, MyBizHomepage.com, a software company that offers dashboards to help business owners navigate Intuit Inc.’s (INTU) QuickBooks and manage their financials. Justen attended for the first time last year, and came away impressed. At one lunch, he met Brian Moran of the Moran Media Group, a publishing house that produces magazines for trade groups and many of the SBA’s partner organizations. Justen worked out a deal to advertise in Small Business Success, a biannual magazine sent out to SBA, SCORE, and small-business development center offices.

“Our paths probably would have never crossed otherwise,” Justen said. “Typically, I would have had to do a blind call to the editorial staff and worked my way up from there.”

… Small Business Week permeates Washington, D.C., at the highest levels: President Bush, who will meet with some award winners Wednesday at the White House, opened the week with a formal proclamation calling on Americans “to observe this week with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs that celebrate the achievements of small business owners and their employees and encourage the development of new small businesses.”

But little action is tied to the lofty rhetoric. The week’s organizers at the SBA acknowledge that they are focused more on raising general awareness of small businesses’ hefty contributions to the American economy than they are on pushing forward direct policy advances to help business owners.

That needs to change, especially as the ailing economy takes its toll on entrepreneurs.

“Washington hasn’t been stepping up to the plate nearly enough,” Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, wrote in an e-mail to FSB. “National Small Business Week is a time to insist on actions not just words to help the small businesses which created more than nine out of 10 new jobs over the past 15 years. These small business owners are out there everyday in today’s tough economic climate where it’s harder and harder to afford the energy bills, pay for health care for their employees, and expand their payrolls.”

For more information on National Small Business Week, click here.