The California Area Chamber of Commerce discussed preliminary planning for some of this year's headlining chamber events at last week's board meeting.
The Ozark Ham & Turkey Festival committee will hold its first planning meeting of the year at 5:30 p.m. March 2. This year's edition of the festival will be the 30th, which committee chair Brad Baer said will likely mean some events during or around the festival weekend will celebrate the milestone.
A more immediate upcoming event is the chamber's easter egg hunt. This year's event will again be sponsored by Commerce Bank, with the event itself taking place in the area March 28 around the Scout House and Lions Gazebo at Proctor Park. In case of inclement weather, the event has a fallback date of April 4.
The Chamber's golf tournament also approaches, with the date set for June 10.
Also in line with recent events, the board heard a recap of last month's annual dinner. The auction portion resulted in more than $9,000 in money raised for the chamber's scholarship fund, and annual dinner committee chair Rita Hammerly said attendance at the event was up from last year's edition.
In other news, the chamber saw a new member join this month in Hollon Family Chiropractic, which came to the community recently. Chamber executive secretary Sandra Ratcliff said the chamber saw 106 member renewals for this year as well.
Also last month, a ribbon cutting was held for new chamber member Massage by Whitney. Moniteau Christian Ministries will hold a ribbon cutting of its own for its new addition at 11 a.m. March 10, and Josh Ecton, owner of the Credible Handyman, targeting a ribbon cutting for a few months from now in May.
The chamber's next regular meeting will take place at 8 a.m. March 12.