Rural Chambers of Commerce Empowerment Forum MinutesJuly 16, 2004
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Attendees:
BRC Facilitators: Tom Cowles & Inez Bays Forum was opened with a welcome from Tom Cowles, Sheri Quinlin, Lynn Miller and Bob Chibante. Tom requested that Sheri, Lynn and Bob share with the group their recent experiences with putting on the Burney Basin Day event since it was held over the entire July 4th weekend.
4,000 people attended the fireworks and parade. Projections for the reenactment event were made on the basis of the parade census; it was projected that roughly 2,500 people would attend as well as 500 actual reinactor participants. Water, firewood, and portable toilets were ordered to facilitate the projected crowds. Additional water was ordered only to discover that some participants had been “hoarding” and the additional order was not needed. The numbers for the event fell below projections, with only two hundred participants and 500 spectators actually showing. Even with the lower numbers of people, it was reported that the event went on “flawlessly” and all involved had a good time. (During the following round table discussion it was brought up that such reenactments have been tried in Anderson with the same decreasing numbers of participants resulting in the canceling of this event in Anderson).
Ken Burns (Palo Cedro): Ken spoke about the Honey Bee Festival that is held in Palo Cedro each October. He mentioned that the event originated 13 years ago as a small local gathering where a few local vendors participated. The event is held at the Bishop Quinn High School facility. Ken stated that the festival now draws “over a hundred” vendors and is a community “high point” in participation and fund raising. Many in the Forum expressed an interest in obtaining a vendor list. Ken stated that he “didn’t have a problem” with sharing this list with Forum participants. Bonnie Kubowitz (Mt. Shasta): Bonnie shared her state of "exhaustion and relief" over completing the July 4th Celebration held in downtown Mt. Shasta. She stated that the city of Mt. Shasta does not contribute funds to this event. This leaves all expenses up to the Chamber for this event. She did state that she has loyal vendors participating who are able to generate relatively large profits. Bonnie said that the vendors pay up to $900.00 per booth for this event, a fact that drew gasps from other Forum participants who stated that they generally have “difficulty charging $25.00 per vendor.” Proceeds from this event go to producing the Fireworks display and other Chamber activities throughout the year.
Janis Hill (Cottonwood): Mentioned how she became President of the Chamber and the difficulty of getting other community members actively involved. All other chamber reps readily agreed to this dynamic as a common one among the chambers. Janis further shared the history of the Rodeo Week that is Cottonwood’s big event of the year. David Griffiths (Shasta Lake City): David stated that Shasta Lake City has been producing a weekly community event called “Friday Nite at the Park”. This event has a different band performing each week and will run till August 13. This is the Second Annual running of this event and David mentioned that it is the Chamber’s wish for the City Parks and Rec Department to take over next year. Nancy Barnes (Trinity County): Nancy shared her frustration with organizing new events and liaising with other chambers in her county. She mentioned being very positive in sitting in this meeting in that she is able to gather ideas and valuable contacts to assist her in her event organizing in her home county. After much discussion back and forth regarding the details of producing community wide events the meeting came to a close. Mt. Shasta will host the next Forum meeting in October, the date to be set later. It was also decided by all participants that the next session will be at least three hours as two is not enough to cover all the subjects that arise in these sessions.
 Burney Chamber of Commerce |
Burney Chamber reps Lynn, Bob and Sheri shared stories of marketing, ordering of supplies, projecting numbers of participants and overall oversight of the various aspects of coordinating such a large endeavor. The event occurred over a three-day span, with a Parade, Teen Dance, Fireworks display and two days of Civil War Reinactions.
A general "roundtable discussion" ensued wherein each Chamber rep shared their experiences with producing various community events indigenous to their city.
Debe Hopkins & Henry Bartolo (Anderson): Henry & Debe shared that Anderson has just completed it’s Anderson Explodes event on July 3rd and added that this is funded by Chamber fund raising events like a Tri-Tip sandwich sale and a massive community wide sale of raffle tickets. It was further announced that in late August, Anderson Chamber would be hosting a large event for the motorcycling enthusiast at the Anderson Fair Grounds. This event will benefit 6 local charities as well as the chamber, and its main focus is 100% of the net goes to charity.