The Chamber Salutes . . .

the members of the Marketing Committee for their work on the 2006 Homespun Fun marketing promotion.

A special thanks to Rick Redden, NTV; Pam Hanson, MNB; Bill Longnecker, Longnecker Jewelry; Chris Hansen and Gina Stamm, Hometown Family Radio; McCook Community College; McCook Radio Group; the McCook Cordials and the Work Ethic Camp for helping make the event a success. We also wish to thank the area businesses that sponsored the "Celebrity Chefs" who grilled the steak lunch, the CWF 4-H group for preparing and serving the side dishes for the lunch and the BBQ contest judges.

The Chamber Salutes . . .

D & S Hardware and Schmick's Market for their donations that made the Homespun Fun Backyard BBQ possible. D & S Hardware donated the First Place prize of a Weber BBQ Grill valued at $400.00. Schmick's Market donated all of the ribeye steaks for the BBQ contest as well as the round steaks for the steak dinner----a total of 132 steaks!

2006 Homespun Fun & Backyard BBQ Event

FUN, FOOD AND SHOPPING were the order of the day during the 2006 Homespun Fun and Backyard BBQ event held from July 13 through July 15. Merchants hit the sidewalks with 'sizzling' buys as they endured triple digit temperatures all three days. The retail promotion was capped off with fun and food on Saturday when 15 barbeque teams vied for prizes which included a $400 BBQ grill and $150.00 for first place, $100.00 for second place, and $50.00 for third place. Bragging rights go to the First Central Bank Prime Time Grillers followed by AmFirst Bank Ribs & Cobs and Hometown Family Radio.

While the contestants were slaving over their hot grills, the kids were enjoying the Minnow Races, the Turtle Races and testing their Watergun Marksmanship skills.

Watergun Marksmanship Participants take aim at the bright red funnel target to see how much water they can collect in their ‘target bottle’. If they were not all that accurate, they were invited to aim at their competition...a larger target!		And the Winner Is Missy Nelson of the Cordials keeps a close eye on the sometimes photo finish minnow races.
Turtle Race Winners On your mark, get set, go! McCook’s fastest turtles belonged to Faith Hanson, Portia Jameson, Jase Kula, Brooke Stewart and Hannah Kohl.		Minnow Race Heat Finalists Minnows made a mad dash for the finish line marked on one end of the rain gutter. Fast Minnows were selected by Sidney Hanson, Zander Hobbs, Tatum Radel, Clayton Stevens and Jase Kula.

Following the BBQ entry deadline at 12:30 p.m., grills were turned over to Celebrity Chefs who prepared one hundred steaks for the Steak Lunch ticket holders to enjoy along with side dishes served by the CWF 4-H youth. Area politicians were the 'celebrities' and included: Mark Christiansen, James Coady, Colleen Grant, Shane Messersmith, Larry Shields, Frank Shoemaker, and Jeff Tidyman. Celebrity sponsors included: Ag West Commodities, Lighthouse Marina, Prairie Wind P.C.'s, Messersmith Water Treatment, Pinpoint Communications, Wagner Ford-Mercury-Toyota and Kugler's.

City Funding Request

When the Chamber Board of Directors met in January, 2006, for their goal setting and strategic planning session, they determined that in order to accomplish their goal of recruiting retail businesses to McCook they would need more funds. As a result, the McCook Area Chamber of Commerce submitted a funding request of $25,000.00 to the City Council for consideration during the 2006-07 budget process. At the July 17 City Council meeting, funds were approved in the amount of $12,500.00. Board members are pleased with this opportunity to begin efforts in retail recruitment and will be formulating a plan to best utilize the funds allotted.

When the Board met in January, they also reworded the Chamber's mission statement to more clearly define our purpose. "The mission of the McCook Area Chamber of Commerce is to enhance the prosperity of the McCook Area through visionary leadership." It will not be an easy road and there is much to do, but with the additional funding, we can now begin to take strides in that direction. We appreciate the Council's decision to join us in pursuing that vision.

Nebraska Lied Main Street Designation

It was an exciting week for the Chamber of Commerce and the City of McCook! On Wednesday, July 20, word was received that the joint Governing Board and Management Team of Nebraska Lied Main Street had, according to J. L. Schmidt, Director, "voted unanimously to accept McCook back into the program based on your great presentation, renewed enthusiasm and determination to make it work this time". Tor Olson, Olson's Photography, has been the primary motivator for this revival effort and should be applauded for his determination to see it through. McCook had been a member of the Lied Main Street family in the 1990's but, even though great strides were taken, the program failed to flourish. There is a strong belief, among those who were previously a part of the program, that, unlike before, all of the necessary pieces are present. First and foremost, there is an unprecedented spirit of cooperation between the McCook Economic Development Corporation, the Main Street promoters and the McCook Area Chamber of Commerce. In order to sculpt the merging of these three entities on a variety of levels, a nine member committee has been named with three representatives from each. The committee, through a series of meetings, will determine an organizational plan that will best suit all three entities and bring them together on common ground. A formal announcement will be made at the 12th Annual Main Street State Convention on September 28 and 29 in Wayne, Nebraska.