|
Ben Durbin offered up our invocation while Hal Leland was our song leader, with two songs chosen to honor just passed Veterans Day. President Lori covered many topics in quick succession, including the Club helping Lulie by paying her fees and costs to participate in volleyball this past fall and cross country skiing this winter; that her family went to the movies, found Lulie there and she joined them and that Lulie is a big movie fan so if anyone else is planning a similar outing, you may want to see if she can join you; that our Club, Sunrise, Wahpteton-Breckenridge, Pelican Rapids and Perham are going to hold off until 2022 to submit a request to host the District Conference; that today we are to invite clergy to our meeting as the individual member's guest; and that our next Wine Down Wednesday is December 12th when we will be joined and entertained by the M State choir. Ben Durbin and seven others were ready after the meeting to head out and distribute Elmer & Andy books. Catching up on our baby photo contest, an M State coffee cup was given to Dave Johnson for guessing Greg Darling correctly last week and two weeks ago five people guessed David Lundeen correctly, with Katie Johnson receiving an M State bag as her name was drawn out of Keith Olson, Ryan Welle, Greg Darling and Buzz Lundeen (someone there had the inside track). For brags and fines, this writer paid in for not getting around to doing last week's Rounds and to announce that housing for Lulie for her entire stay with us has been secured; she will stay at her current home, with Brent and Michelle Klinnert until mid-January and then move to Kyle and Tammy Richards' home for the rest of the year. John MacFarlane reminded us all to invite clergy this week; Tim Hunt said he and Desta had a great trip seeing their children, grandchildren and a long-time friend, but also was sad that he did not have a chance to compete for the adhesive tape that went to those who sold at least ten dozen roses (more on that later). Greg Darling assured all of us that it was him on October 31st that was masked at the desk checking us in but had to leave early so there was not a big reveal; Kathy Austvold said she appreciate all of us and that she and Steve were celebrating their 17th anniversary on November 17th. Finally, Lori thanked Steve Leitte for filling in for her last week. Mike Smith introduced Chamber of Commerce President Lisa Workman who talked about the activities of the organization. Lisa went to the Chamber in 2007 and has now lived in Fergus Falls almost 20 years. She expressed her thanks for the roses that were dropped off at the Chamber office (it was Jamie Larson who arranged that) and then reported that membership in the Chamber has fluctuated between 260 and 360 over the last five years. The Chamber continues with its Shop Local campaign, with Lisa noting that the Saturday after Thanksgiving is Small Business Saturday. An Over the River Festival is scheduled for Saturday, December 1, with activities to occur on the Court Street Bridge and $500 in Fergus Fall Bucks to be given away; they are dubbing it "Shop, Drop & Win." Fergus Falls was selected as one of the top five towns in Minnesota by the Minnesota Monthly, with the others being Eden Prairie, Roseville, White Bear Lake and Northfield. The top town will be revealed at an event the evening of December 5th in the Twin Cities and the hope is to turn out as many of our local citizens as possible to cheer on our town; tickets are $50 and I know some club members have already signed-up to attend. Also, Fergus Falls is one of the final 20 candidates, out of 12,000 nominations, to be the recipient of a $500,000 grant to make over businesses in our community. This is sponsored by Deluxe Corporation and, if we are chosen, there would be a television show about receiving the grant and how it is used to strengthen our community. We need to engage the community to support our candidacy and to do so you can post your favorite things, pictures, events in Fergus Falls on social media. Yolu are to tag it with #MyFergusFalls. The website is www.smallbusinessrevolution.org and you can find out more about the television show at https://www.deluxe.com/small-business-revolution/main-street/season-four/. The website is www.smallbusinessrevolution.org. Not understanding how one tags things, I also wrote down #MyFergusFalls@smbizrevolution, so those of you with any computer skills should know what to do with that. The next round of judging starts December 3rd, so get going ! The Chamber recently conducted a membership survey and of those responding, 62% have been in business more than 26 years, one-third were non-profits, more than half have less than 25 employees and 40% planned to hire in the next 12 months. Nearly 60% of those responding have also experienced work force challenges. Over the past 12 months the Chamber has partnered with the City, M State and West Central Initiative to offer business training and, of course, it has recently seen the complete gutting and rebuilding of its offices into a modern business. Lisa can be contacted at lworkman@fergusfalls.com; her office number is (218) 736-6951 and her cell number is (218) 731-1721. Thanks Lisa for the update!
|
