Thanks for Your Support

Last night was a great night for the Tourism Committee and for the Chamber.  The Council Chamber was filled with committee members and others showing their support for our proposal to create a Tourism office within the Chamber.

It really made me very proud to see such a good turnout and it especially impressed the Council members.  They seemed very pleased and receptive to our presentation.   They will consider our request and plan to act on it at the next meeting on November 17th.

I want to thank all of the committee members and others who have worked for several years to see this project come to fruition.  Special thanks goes to Mayor Boswell for his support.  And of course, thanks to the Council for their attention, input and during this process.

Again, thank you all for taking some of your personal time to come out to support me for the proposal.  Just like in football, you play a lot better and you have a better chance of winning when you play in front of your own supporters. 

If possible, please try to be at the November 17th Council meeting, and future Council meetings.  Our city leaders need to see us at every meeting, not just when we want something from them.  It makes it a lot easier next time we need their support. 

 

Your Support is Needed

The Tourism Committee meeting at Santa Fe Cattle Company included several sponsors of the Dixe Youth Tournaments, Mayor Boswell, and others.

Thanks to William at Santa Fe Cattle Company, the monthly Tourism committee meeting featured delicious appetizers (the fried jalapeno strips were my favorite) and the opportunity to thank the many sponsors who helped make the recent Dixie Youth baseball tournaments a success.

It also provided a chance to rally the troops one more time for the critical presentation at the City Council meeting next Tuesday, November 3rd.

For more than three years, the Tourism Committee has been working diligently to create an entity to recruit and promote economic development through the fasting growing sector of our economy, Tourism.  We have worked with our rapidly growing lodging community, restaurateurs, retailers, and city officials to develop a proposal that will create a Tourism Director position within Chamber to help Enterprise claim our share of the 9.6 billion Tourism dollars that are spent in Alabama each year. 

We are at a critical point in the process.  On Tuesday, November 3^rd at 6:00PM our proposal will be presented to the public and the Enterprise City Council.  We need your attendance and support of this initiative at this meeting.  It is important that our city leaders see a unified, diverse group of Chamber members dedicated to the progress and growth in our local economy.  If given the opportunity, please voice your support of this very important initiative that will help us build a stronger economy, grow jobs, and prepare for future growth.

The short presentation will be made early in the regular City Council meeting.  If you have any questions about this issue, please let me know.  Thank you in advance for your help with this very important matter.

Fantastic Fall Fest

Over 10,000 people packed the streets during this year's Boll Weevil Fall Festival.

The day started out a little overcast, but as the sun came out, so did the people.  And they kept on coming.  It was the best turnout we’ve ever had for the Fall Festival. 

Since there is no admission charge and no tickets sold, there is no way to accurately track attendance, but I think I’m a pretty good crowd estimator.  I’ve only been at the Chamber for the last 3 festivals, but I watched the festival grow from the first year from the upstairs KMX control room overlooking the Boll Weevil.  This is by far the largest I’ve seen for the event.

This year’s crowd was steady throughout the day, getting larger in the afternoon when it usually tapered off.  Considering the streets were crowded all day, with people coming and going all the time, I think there were well over 10,000 visitors during the entire day.

Another sign that attendance was great: many vendors remained set up and actively doing business till the end of the event, some even longer.  All the vendors I talked to were very pleased with the crowds.  One of the new vendors who had never been to the Festival before stopped me to tell me how great it was, and wanted to know if he could book a spot for next year.

I think the attendees had a great time, too.  There was a great variety of things to do and enjoy.  The 100+ kids in the costume contest were adorable, and the entertainment was great as always.

I will have a chance to speak with some of the downtown merchants at the next meeting, but I anticipate they will be pleased, as well.  The reason for the Festival is to draw attention to the many unique shops and stores downtown.  It is a great way for out-of-towners to get to know us, and for new residents to discover that there is more to Enterprise than just the Boll Weevil Circle. 

Most Downtown merchants are supportive of the event and understand that it is not just about bringing 10,000 people to their front door for one day, but making the public aware of our downtown shopping district.  Many visitors will return to shop the merchants later.

Thanks to all those who made this event happen.  The Downtown Unlimited committee, merchants, sponsors, and volunteers who gave of their time, talents and pocketbooks to make this event one of the biggest and best events of its kind anywhere.

On behalf of these people, please take the time to tell them that their efforts are appreciated.  The best way is to visit the downtown merchants .  You’ll probably find something you didn’t know you needed.

Free Enterprise: It’s In our Name and Our Heart

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has begun an effort to remind America of the importance of free enterprise to our economy.  since “promoting the competitive free enterprise system” is the backbone of the Enterprise Chamber’s mission statement, I feel that this effort deserves our support.  Below is a letter from the U.S. Chamber outlining the initiative.  Please take the time to read it and join the effort to remind our leaders that free enterprise is the heart of our nation’s heritage.

Job Creation Depends on American Free Enterprise

By Thomas J. Donohue

President and CEO

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

 

With the economy slowly returning to form, we must now focus on a new challenge—putting America back to work. It won’t be easy—unemployment is at its highest level in more than 25 years. We must create 20 million new jobs over the next decade simply to put the unemployed back to work and to keep up with a growing population. There’s only one system that’s proven capable of meeting this goal—American free enterprise.

 

Economic renewal will begin where it always does—with entrepreneurs and America’s 29.6 million small businesses. These everyday heroes are unparalleled in their ability to create jobs, spur local development, and bring new products and services to market. Over the past 15 years, small businesses created almost two-thirds of new jobs and, given the right business environment, can deliver big for Americans once again.

 

But free enterprise is about more than just a small startup or the biggest corporation. It’s a powerful idea that is inseparable from the American Dream. Free enterprise offers the opportunity to dream big—and to turn that dream into a reality.

 

We’ll never claim that free enterprise is a perfect system. But while it has its faults, free enterprise has done more to improve the human condition than any other system ever devised. With significant challenges—including energy and health care—ahead of us, we must take advantage of the power of free enterprise to harness human talent. Nothing less than our economic competitiveness is at stake.

 

That’s why the U.S. Chamber is embarking on one of the most important initiatives in its nearly 100-year history, the American Free Enterprise. Dream Big. campaign. The goal of this comprehensive and sustained program is to remind, educate, and persuade our fellow citizens and leaders that the free enterprise values of individual initiative, hard work, freedom of choice, and the free exchange of trade, capital, and ideas that built this great country can lead us back to prosperity.

 

This campaign isn’t about partisan politics—it’s about preserving the American Dream for this and future generations through low taxation, reasonable regulations, a doubling of American exports, and free and vibrant capital markets.

 

Washington, by taking the steps necessary to avoid a new Great Depression, has done its part. Now, it’s time for government to assume its traditional, limited role. Economic growth and recovery will come from the bottom up, not from Washington down. It’s up to the American people—all 300 million of us—to outwork, outthink, and outdream our competitors. Our work begins anew.

 

To join the effort, visit www.FreeEnterpriseAmerica.com.

Peanuts, Ponies, and Paintings

EOCC's Bo Weevil was a crowd pleaser at the 2008 Festival

Fall is my favorite time of year.  You just can’t beat that feeling when the first cool snap sends you back in the front door for a jacket. 

I guess that’s why the Boll Weevil Fall Festival is one of my favorite events of the year.  It just seems to get better each year.  Last year we had 130 vendors and about 5,000 people.  This year, we have even more vendors, and will probably have even more attendees.

We have a lot of the perennial favorites, like pony rides, funnel cakes, and gift items.  But this year, we have several new vendors who will bring interesting items like stained glass, art works, and hand made articles.

This year, the food vendors will be scattered throughout the festival.  You can sample smoothies, milkshakes, backed good, and of course, boiled peanuts.  I like the fried peanuts, too.  I’m a true Southerner, I like anything fried.  And if you get there early, you can enjoy pancakes at the First United Methodist Church.

Last year we hade over 100 kids in the costume contest, and I expect more this year.  Registration begins at 9:00AM, the contest is at 10.  There’s always a few moms who don’t get that right and show up at 10.  Please get those little ones there early enough to register.  We don’t want any tears!

And be sure to visit the merchants downtown.  That’s why we do this in the first place.  Check out their wares and thank them for hosting this signature event for our community.  They would really appreciate your business.

The Next Step

I am happy to report that a very important goal in our strategic plan is a step closer to fruition.  For those of you who may not know, the Tourism committee has been working diligently for several years to establish a convention and visitors bureau or Tourism office to assist the Chamber in recruiting trade shows, conventions, reunions, tournaments and other visitors to Enterprise.  Working with hoteliers, restaurateurs, Parks & Recreation and others, we have developed a plan to create a Tourism Office within the Chamber.  This office would be funded by revenue generated from increased lodging fees.  Half of the new revenue generated would be set aside by the city to fund projects that will help us attract more visitors.  I am happy to report that we presented our proposal to the Mayor and City Council yesterday at a special work session.  With the council’s input and support, we hope to bring the proposal to the Council for a vote very soon.

Year in Review-Part Two

The Chamber, like the city,  has also experienced significant growth in the last fiscal year.  Although not the phenomenal 13% membership growth we experienced in 2007-2008, we continued to grow our membership by 5%, almost twice the national average.  Our membership retention rate has been one of the reasons, at a remarkable 97%.  The average chamber retains about 83% of its members each year.

One of the reasons we have retained so many of our members is the value we have added to chamber membership.  This year, we added an e-mail headline newsletter to remind our members of our efforts and inform them of future events.  We have made other efforts to keep up with the changing patterns of communication by adding a chamber blog to allow immediate interaction.  We added more value to our website, BuyEnterprise.com with a member area feature that lets them exchange information directly.  Our websites have been kept current and packed with information for members and others.  Our sites average 40-50 thousand hits each month.  And we’ve begun exploring social media like Facebook, which has exploded in usage with 300 million subscribers.

We have created several new events this year, including our first Business Expo, which will grow as we move it to the new Civic Center.  The Downtown Committee sponsored the first Summer Fest which will continue to grow and hopefully rival the ever-expanding Boll Weevil Fall Festival. And together with the city, we presented the first Aviation Expo  to promote our area’s burgeoning new aviation industry.

So, let us pause briefly to reflect on our accomplishments and to honor those members who helped us achieve them.  We welcome our new slate of directors and charge them with leading us to even greater accomplishments. 

 I know that we will not rest on our laurels, but will continue to work diligently to make our community even better. 

As we continue to improve the quality of life for our citizens, strengthen our economic climate, and reach out to newcomers and new ideas, we will continue to fulfill our mission to serve our members and our community.

Picnic in the Park

Retiree Committee Chairman Lee O'Berry and Mayor Kenneth Boswell cut the ribbon to open the new pavilions in the park

Overcast skies and the threat of rain kept some at home, but about 200 retirees showed up to enjoy food, entertainment, and fellowship at the 5th annual Retiree Picnic in Donaldson Park, Thursday, October 15th.

The event was preceded by a ribbon cutting for the new pavilions that have added greatly to the functionality of the park.  Two of the new pavillions have picnic tables, and two are open.  This was a great idea, as you can see, the open pavilion makes a great band stand for concerts and small performances.

Thanks to a great group of volunteers, sponsors, and Parks & Rec, everyone enjoyed a nice event, albeit under cloudy skies.  A special thank you is in order for Sam Boswell who, once again, donated and cooked the barbeque and provided the entertainment, Southern Breeze.

Thanks also to the many merchants and others who donated prizes for the event.  We had plenty of gifts to go around.

Congratulations to the Retiree Committee on another great picnic.  Ms Bea Fuentes would have been proud, even if we did forget the cookies!

Year In Review-Part One

The past year has flown by with a whirlwind of activity.  Each year seems to be busier that the one before, but 2008-2009 really has been busier, with several new events, reaccreditation, and more activities. 

The last 12 months have seen sweeping changes in government, the economy and in our priorities.  A year ago we were all excited about the upcoming elections, the dire straits of our banking system, and the wars in the Middle East.  We close the period focusing on radical proposals for health care reform, fears of pandemic flu, and even wider divisions of opinion on the direction our county is headed.

Our city has seen some notable changes during the last fiscal year, most were positive.  We have opened a beautiful new school, Hillcrest Elementary and have seen the much anticipated new Enterprise High School rise from the ground to impressive dimensions.  We’ve seen the completion of a much-needed Civic/Senior Center, which was  debuted at our Awards Banquet.

Although slowed by the recession, our local economy continued to grow at a remarkable rate.  Our economic strength ranking rose from 79 to 75 nationally, remaining second strongest in Alabama.  Even though we saw our county’s unemployment rate nearly double in the last 12 months, it remains one of the lowest in the state, and below the national average.  Many of our major employers added jobs, including Wayne Farms, Alfab, and AFS.  We welcomed a new aviation employer, U.S. Aero Services and many new jobs. 

U.S. Census estimates released this year show that our population has grown an amazing 19.8% since 2000, making Enterprise the fastest growing city in the Wiregrass.  It’s no coincidence that Relocate America named Enterprise one of the Top 100 Places to Relocate in America.

The Chamber grew significantly during the last 12 months, too.  More about that it Part Two.

Lasting Legacy

Chairman James Aplin presents the Leading the Charge Award to Bea in 2008

 

Robbin  Thompson drew  a thunderous round of applause from the crowd at the 68th Annual Membership Awards Banquet when he announced that from henceforth, the annual Volunteer of the Year Award will be renamed in honor of the late Bea Fuentes, who passed away just days earlier.

 

It was a well-deserved honor that could only hint at the great body of volunteer service that Bea left behind.  She gave of her time and talents not only to the Chamber, but to her church, many civic organizations, and to many causes that made Enterprise a great place to live.

 

Michelle Mann wrote a wonderful story recapping some of the organizations and activities that benefitted from Bea’s work.

 

But in the end, it’s not just how many organizations we belong to, its how we touched people through them.  And Bea touched us all through her sweet spirit of service to others.

 

So, next year, we will award the first ever “Beau Fuentes Volunteer of the Year Award”.  I hope her life inspires others who may someday receive it.