The work continues for the California Area Chamber of Commerce.
With the Ozark Ham & Turkey Festival now in the rear view, the Chamber will next set its sights on Christmas California Style. The group discussed planning for its upcoming seasonal events at last Thursday's monthly meeting, with elements starting to fall into place ahead of the fast-approaching month of December.
The theme for this year's parade set for Saturday, Dec. 4, Chamber members learned, is "Stories of Christmas." A visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus will return for this year at Sweet Chipotle following the parade. Christmas in Proctor Park also returns for its third year. Event committee member Stephanie Stokes informed the group that The Flower Shop plans to donate a wreath to be placed underneath the Chamber's welcome sign as patrons enter the park.
A pair of related fundraisers are also in the works.
Stokes said plans are in motion for a T-shirt fundraiser, with online pre-orders available through Grace Designs sometime in the future.
Though more tentative, the Chamber's marketing committee might also move forward with a "Cookie Crawl" fundraiser coinciding with Christmas California Style's weekend events. The group was presented with a general outline for the latter fundraiser, which would allow community members to patronize participating businesses selling boxes of cookies in exchange for an extra special through the Chamber's QR code, though nothing was set in stone at last week's meeting.
Chamber members did receive a debriefing about September's Ham & Turkey Festival, with committee members reporting that a lot went well, from turn out to events like the car show. The group agreed it should look into nailing down volunteer help from Chamber members via a sign-up sheet ahead of next year's festival to make tear-down run more smoothly.
The group also approved using money from the Chamber's Ham & Turkey fund to purchase a new sound system before the end of the year for use at next year's festival.
Planning for the 2022 festival will begin in earnest next March.
Another important piece of business from last week's meeting concerns the Chamber's by-laws. The current by-laws have not been revised since 2006, so board members were asked to submit revisions from now until Nov. 15. The proposed revisions will be reviewed by Chamber Executive Secretary Sandra Ratcliff and Chamber President Kayle Kiesling, distributed to board members at the group's December meeting, and finalized at a special board meeting in January of 2022. The final list of proposed changes will then be up for a vote at the Chamber's annual meeting later that month.
In other business, Dan Mesey with Moniteau County Toys for Tots was on hand to let the group know this would be his last year as coordinator. Mesey asked for the Chamber's help in finding a new coordinator to keep the program going beyond 2021. Though he reported Moniteau County Toys for Tots has enough money saved back this year to prevent a crucial need for donations, the Chamber approved donating $1,000 from its Ham & Turkey fund anyway.
Finally, the board approved spending $2436.08 out of the Ham & Turkey fund to pay for new lighting on the City of California sign, with city workers taking care of installation.
The Chamber added two new members in the past month - Spa 4 Paws and Robinson Outdoors, of Perryville.
The California Area Chamber of Commerce's next regular meeting is set for Thursday, Nov. 11 at 8 a.m.