Chamber Chimes

 May 20,  2009

American author Henry Van Dyke once said, “The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another.”  I think this is true for every season and with the calm, warm days we are having, I don’t care what season you call it, just call it welcome!  When the weather gets nice, it seems to stir some sort of primal need in us to look for a fresh start, a re-birth as such.  Enter spring cleaning.  How far back this tradition goes is heavily debatable, but regardless of what century or country you look at, the thinking is the same.  Out with the dusty, dingy remnants of the closed up winter and in with the clean and fresh springtime air.  This is a time when we not only clean our homes, but also sift through all the “stuff” that we no longer need or want.

There must be a lot of people feeling that way right now, as I have been getting numerous calls about the Town Wide Garage Sale.  It has been scheduled for June 20^th, which is a week later than last year, but there were some scheduling conflicts earlier in the month.  Sorry for any inconvenience this causes.  As has been done in the past, the Watonga Chamber of Commerce will create a list of garage sales, map them, and put ads in other area newspapers to encourage people to come to Watonga and buy.  You can contact the Chamber office at 623-5452 to register and be added to this list.  The fee will be $5.

            If you have been sorting through things and find that you don’t have enough for a garage sale of your own or just don’t want the hassle, please consider donating it to the Cheese Festival Committee garage sale.  This is a fundraiser to help defer expenses of the Watonga Cheese Festival.  Donations can be made at the Armory building, from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. on June 18^th and 19^th (Thurs. & Fri.), or call the Chamber to make other arrangements.  This can be a win-win situation for all of us!

            Don’t forget that this weekend is Pioneer Days.  It is not too late to register an entry in the parade by calling Rhonda Olsen at Country Home Antiques, 623-2599.  The parade starts at 10:00 and will be on Main Street. Also, the American Legion will do a Memorial Day Service at the IOOF Cemetery on Monday at 10:00 a.m., honoring our local war veterans.

            Have a wonderful and safe Memorial Day weekend!

May 6, 2009                

The Blaine County Ag Appreciation Banquet was last Thursday and a large number of people came out to help recognize the farm and ranch families of the year and the new Blaine County Hall of Fame inductees.  The evening was well prepared by all the Blaine County Conservation offices, the Chambers of Commerce throughout the county and the OSU Extension office.  It was a great pleasure to work together with all these people and entities.  Our Chamber was responsible for the decorations and my thanks go to Anita Woodruff, Todd Lafferty, Don & Edna Justice, Rita Clewell and Bill Kelly for your help.  Your work and willingness to lend your items made the room look very nice and kept us from having to spend much money on something as temporary as decorations.

            Coming to Watonga on June 14^th is the Texas 4000.  You may have heard of them in the past, as this is their 5^th consecutive year to come through Watonga.  They are a group of college students, mostly from the Austin TX. area, who ride from Austin to Anchorage, AK.  It is the world's longest annual charity bike ride, raising funds for MD Anderson Cancer Center and the American Cancer Society.  Their mission is “to fight cancer by sharing Hope, Knowledge and Charity” during their 4,500 mile ride.  Watonga Christian Church will be hosting them and giving them a place to sleep.  There will also be a Community Hamburger Dinner that night where you can come to the church to have dinner (by donation) with these riders and hear the presentation about their cause.  Anyone interested in helping to sponsor this event or needing more information, please call the Chamber office at 623-5452.  You can also visit their website at www.texas4000.org.

            Two weeks ago, I took the family camping at Roman Nose Park.  We haven’t camped much in recent years as the youngest is just now old enough to appreciate it, but we are hoping to do it a lot more often this summer.  We got to talking with the “neighbors” in the campsite beside us and they had come from the Norman area.  When they found out that we were locals, they went on and on about how lucky we are to have Roman Nose so available to us.  He said they love to go up there and wished they had something like it close to their home.  He was right.  We are lucky to live here!