Chariton Weekly Update

Chamber Update

Chariton, Iowa By Debra Storm Aug 4, 2010

What a wonderful evening we all had at the Chamber’s 2010 Annual dinner on Thursday night July 22^nd. Thelma prepared a festive array of food that was enjoyed by everyone in attendance at Carpenter’s Hall.

The evening started off great, with social time as people arrived before dinner. The meeting was called to order and began with a great introduction to Honey Creek Resort and the Preserve given by Andy Woodrick, General Manager of Honey Creek Resort. Andy’s slide presentation showed the many aspects of the Resort, how they have progressed this past year, and their outlook for the future. Lyle Asell and Linda Baynes spoke along with Andy on how Tourism Lucas County is working in conjunction with Honey Creek to provide excursions to our county. They are working on quilt tours, nature hikes, historical tours, and more for visitors to see more of southern Iowa. It is positive reinforcement of what we can offer tourists in Lucas County.

Many were recognized throughout the evening, as the Chamber would not function without the awesome volunteers we have in our community! We were happy to announce the list of 27 new Chamber members we have had join this year. We were also excited to have 28 Ambassador calls throughout the year. We have a few more red jackets in our office to fill, so if your business would like to have an employee become an Ambassador for our community, please call the Chamber office!

It was with great pleasure we announced the Ambassador of the year, Bill Howes, Associate Editor of the Chariton Newspaper. It was long overdue, as it is hard for many of us to make all the Ambassador calls, but Bill never misses and is always there greeting. It was fun to see him finally get his picture taken.

Another award given out was the Community Commitment Award. This award shows an ongoing commitment to our stability for our community. This award was presented to The Legacy Lodge. Accepting the award were Emery & Shari McDonald and Jake & Amanda Schroeder. It is great to see a tried and true business grow and succeed on our town.

We also gave the Pillar of the Community Award. This award was presented to Hy-Vee, Inc. for the support and dedication they have given our County for 80 years. Again the growth and success of our homegrown businesses are vital to prospering our communities. Hy-Vee, Inc. is well deserving of this award for its continued support to all who live in our area.

And last but certainly not least, is the Citizen of the Year award. Randy Westman, the 2009 recipient, presented the 2010 Citizen of the Year award to Byron Welch. In the introduction for this award, Randy provided the many great attributes that Byron has given to our community. It was an honor to have a longtime Chariton businessman receive this award.

Thanks again to every business and person that has donated countless hours of work, donations, time and money that supports Chamber functions for our community!! We couldn’t do it without you!

Come and hear a travel show on wonderful opportunity to see the Canadian Rockies by Train. The presentation will be at the Chamber office on August 18^th at 1:00 pm. The Chariton Chamber is partnering with Collette Vacations to go on a trip to the Canadian Rockies August 8 – 16, 2011.

Some highlights of the trip will be Vancouver, Icefields Parkway, Banff, and Yoho National Park. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to be on a guided tour for 9 days of scenery that can only be seen in the Canadian Rockies.

The train takes you by picture perfect sparkling water and journeys over breathtaking terrain. Please call to make your reservation to hear about this great experience!

businesses participated in the Crazy Days sales throughout town sponsored by the Business Professional division of the Chamber. Hopefully you were out and about and saw the competition for crazy costumes by some retailers. The winner of the Crazy Days best business costume went to Demichelis Law. The individual costume winners were Mish Hall and Jerrica Newberry.

A huge thank you goes to Midwest Heritage Bank, US Bank, and Great Western Bank for serving doughnuts, coffee, and juice to jumpstart the morning from the gazebo. Then for lunch, Dwight Hoch grilled hotdogs (in the rain) compliments of Hy-Vee Food Store. Watermelon was supplied & specially delivered by Hy-Vee Distribution. It was fun to see Jerry Adcock in his homemade umbrella hat cutting up watermelon for all to enjoy. Thanks again to all who took work time to help serve a fun meal donated to the public.

Do you have your tickets for Simon Estes yet? Hurry on down to the Chamber to pick up your season tickets now. The Vredenburg Performing Arts Series includes five stellar performances: Simon Estes in September, Christmas with Graceland in December, Opera Iowa “the Magic Flute’ in February, the Maia String Quartet in March, and the musical ‘My Ioway’ in April.

Please note only season tickets are on sale currently. Individual tickets for Simon Estes will not be available until a week before the performance, if any remain. We will sell as many season tickets as Johnson Auditorium holds. Please don’t delay, for only $40 you can see Simon Estes and four more great performances here in Lucas County!

The 11th annual Iowa Sales Tax Holiday will be held Friday and Saturday, August 6 and 7, 2010. Qualifying clothing or footwear with a selling price of less than $100 will be exempt from sales and local option tax. The holiday does not include Sunday. Businesses that are open on these days and sell qualifying items are required to participate.

Tourism Lucas County did receive the official logo for The Barn Quilts of Lucas County. On display at the Lucas County Fairgrounds are several barn quilts getting ready to be placed in our county for all to enjoy. Have you noticed the ones already up in Lucas County?

A special thanks is in order to the Chariton FFA for placing their card trick pattern barn quilt on McCormick’s barn just north of Chariton. It is an awesome barn quilt to begin your tour of Lucas County Barn quilts. Having Barn quilts in our community, is a great opportunity to show off Lucas County and create another realm of tourism for southern Iowa. It is a very popular tour in many counties that we hope will bring more people to our community and more tourism dollars to our shops.

Please visit these sites now and spread the word of our Barn Quilts of Lucas County:

If you are interested in a Barn Quilt project or have any questions, please call the Chamber office at 774.4059 and be a part of Tourism Lucas County in progress!