Chamber Chimes
September 30, 2009
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Thank you,
thank you, thank you to all
those who participated in the
town wide clean up.
We had about 40 people
participate and collected over
50
big bags of trash.
Represented were Watonga
Motel, Watonga Christian Church,
Watonga Lutheran Church,
Opportunities Inc., Watonga Cub
Scouts, Watonga Girl Scouts,
Beta,
Watonga Main Street
and many individuals.
Thanks to Watonga Main Street for providing the meat
for lunch and to Bob Shoemaker
and Rex Kraft for cooking it up.
Everyone worked really
hard and yet seemed to enjoy it
anyway.
I drove around a bit
after the clean up and most of
the main road areas looked
really good.
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We
can keep it that way if we all
do our parts by picking up and
mowing around our own homes and
being careful to make sure that
our own trash is secured and not
blowing around town.
Let’s show our pride in
Watonga!
With just over one week until the
Cheese Festival, things are really
falling into place.
I am hearing from lots of vendors
who want motel information, to confirm
their booth spaces, times, etc. and they
all seem excited about coming.
From what they have told me about
what they are bringing, it sounds like
there will be some good shopping, too.
The entertainment for both stages
(Centennial Park & Noble at
Main) is scheduled and the
only problem with that might be deciding
which acts to go see.
It appears the entertainment
committee has done a wonderful job of
providing us with a nice range of
enjoyable performers.
The car & motorcycle show will
move to the east end of Main Street this year, which should make
it even more fun.
If you have a nice car or
motorcycle that you would like to
include in the show, please call Steven Rother at 623-1679 for registration
information.
In addition to the usual fun at
the festival, make sure the kids check
out everything going on at the kids area
of
Oasis
Church.
There will be banner coloring and
crafts, as well as some fundraisers by
the Oasis youth group like
decorate-a-cookie and face painting.
It will be a nice place to stop
and let the kiddos have a break from the
shopping!
Hope to see you all
out at the 33rd Annual
Watonga Cheese Festival!
September23, 2009
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Town wide clean-up is this
Saturday and we would sure
appreciate any help available to
get things “whipped into shape.”
We are asking that
volunteers join us at the city
hall at 8:30 a.m., at which time
we will assign a territory to
each group, pass out trash bags
and send you on your merry way.
We will then meet back at
the city hall at noon for a
hamburger lunch (thanks to
Watonga Main Street Assoc.) for
all the volunteers.
Don’t worry if you do not
have a group to work with, we
will get you matched up.
This is, of course, in
preparation for the Cheese
Festival, but it is also a great
opportunity to get things
straightened up before the cold
weather hits.
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Also working hard in preparation
for the Cheese Festival are our
city workers.
They are a valuable
resource to our community on any
given day, but they always go
above and beyond for any of
these events.
The street crew is busily
doing their part of the clean
up, and will continue as the
festival approaches, as well as
trying to get their street
repairs done while the weather
still allows.
The light and water
department has done some
extensive work on the lighting
in the Armory which will make it
much more user friendly.
Thanks to all our hard
working city employees for your
contribution and to Mayor Green
for allowing and encouraging it.
The Watonga Cheese Festival is
going global with representation on
Facebook and Twitter!
Social media is changing the way
people learn about their world and we
are trying to use that to our advantage.
You can find us on Twitter at
www.twitter.com/watongafestival and
on Facebook you can find the Watonga
Cheese Festival fan page at
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Watonga-Cheese-Festival/126065625372.
We are also taking entries for
the Cheese Festival parade on Saturday
(10/10).
Anyone who would like to
participate is asked to contact the
chamber at 623-5452 to let us know.
We are asking that there be no
candy thrown from vehicles or floats
this year as we had some close calls
with kids running into the street to
retrieve it last year.
If you want to give out candy,
please have someone walking next to your
vehicle and going into the crowd to give
it out.
We want everyone to have a
wonderful time at the festival and don’t
want to see anyone get hurt.
September16, 2009
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I can hardly believe that the 33rd
annual Watonga Cheese Festival
is just 3 weeks away.
This year, I am sure,
will prove to be another
wonderful event and I hope to
see lots of locals downtown
along with all the visitors who
come to Watonga for it.
Thanks to Ruth Kennedy,
our tour promotions chairperson,
we have 2 large tour busses
scheduled, as well as several
van loads from churches, senior
centers and schools that are
planning to attend.
Most of those will be
parking in the Karl’s Apple
Market lot and unloading their
passengers there.
With the exception of the quilt
show and cheese food contest,
all events will be held downtown
again this year.
The Art show, cheese
tasting line and Culinary Food
Contest will be in the
Oasis
Church building and Main Street, from
the Armory to Weigle, will be
filled with food vendors, craft
tents and amusements.
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Because of the large
amount of interest that the
quilt show draws, it has been
moved back to the Foley building
to allow for more room to
display the hundreds of
beautiful quilts.
Also at the Foley
building will be the concessions
by the ladies from Beta and the
Cheese Food Contest.
Be thinking about any
interesting cheese recipes you
might want to enter.
Volunteers are needed (and
greatly appreciated) for ticket booths
and for the cheese tasting line.
It is not hard work and offers a
chance to do lots of visiting with
locals and guests.
If you are interested, please
contact any Chamber board member or
Cheese Festival chairperson, or call the
office at 623-5452 and we will be happy
to work with you.
Keep in mind that the Festival
will have extended hours this year (9
a.m. to
8:00 p.m. on Friday), so we will
need some extra help for those hours, as
well.
As we have done in recent years,
prior to the Cheese Festival we will
have a Town wide Cleanup.
It is scheduled for Saturday,
September 26th and we will
start at 8:30 a.m. at the north end of
the City Hall.
The Chamber of Commerce is doing
this in conjunction with
Watonga Main Street
and together we will offer lunch to all
the volunteers who help with the
cleanup.
We welcome families, church
groups, scouts or whomever to come out
and help make our city something to be
proud of.
Please call the office if you
have any questions or want to let me
know that you will be helping, or you
can just show up Saturday morning.
September 9, 2009
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The
last weekend of August was such
a fun weekend. Between the
fair, the carnival and the
entertainment by Rider’s Ford at Centennial Park,
there were many options to
choose from for leisure
activities right here in town.
The only problem was trying to
get to all of them! My family
had fun seeing all the entries
at the Blaine County Fair and
the kids especially enjoyed
seeing their own entries
displayed with all the others.
They also had fun riding the
rides and eating “Carnival Food”
on Saturday evening, being
disappointed only by the fact
that we eventually had to
leave.
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I
was only able to attend a little
bit of the concert, but they
sounded good and it looked like
the show was enjoyed by the
spectators. The next
entertainment scheduled for the
Cheese Festival fundraisers will
be on September 26th
at Liberty Theatre.
Performing will be our
own Hampton Brothers, along with
Terri McGraw and friends.
We are so lucky to have
such a large cast of talent in
our own community.
The Cheese
Festival is only 4 weeks away
and preparations are really
beginning to ramp up.
We still need some help
in the ticket booths, so please
give me a call at 623-5452 if
you would be willing to spare a
few hours on Friday or Saturday.
If there is another area
that you are really interested
in and would like to help, just
give us a call and we would be
happy to work with you on where
and when you are interested in
helping.
Prior to the Cheese Festival we
usually have a Town Wide Cleanup
and this year will be no
exception so gather your Scouts,
co-workers, civic organization
or just your family and save
September 26th to
participate in this project.
Watch the paper for more
information, or give me a call
if you have questions or want to
participate.
Not only do we want
Watonga to look nice for the
visitors who come to town for
the Festival, but it is a great
time to get things cleaned up
before the weather changes,
making it even more work.
Keep in mind that the
cleanup is just for the streets
and public areas.
If you have large items
or a big amount that you need to
haul off, the city transfer
station will be open on Saturday
September 19th and
October 3rd and you
can take it there.
It is even free (1 load
per month) if you take your
current Light & Water bill.
If you have items that
you are planning to have the
city pick up, they need to be in
the alley, not on the street and
I would
highly recommend you check
with the city to see if it is
something they can pick up or if
you need to make arrangements
yourself.
This is a great community
project that shows pride in our
community and I hope we get a
lot of people behind it.
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