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Show Wednesday, June 5. 2007 C9 Vernal Express What is a chamber of commerce and what does it do? !i'fi Bfligg Mil TIT l SMJl! tWfflfcV UHSSOCCED IJPHL 1""""?" BEATS JUDGE S-t I "J11 FVili F"'1 17il rtAJr&MGOUT j jflk AT THE DISTRICT CJvX, SGOUT CAMPOREQr W Nhn W i OLEBIUTWC M GO. JESSK. 001 f TcAHS AT THE UMi VWmsn t UINTAH COUMTT Track dish LIBRARY victory! Natural gas explosion on Sunday University ground breaking "ifc0 orchestrated for audience underway Project r to divert t- -1 rge ft. 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Include $26.00 for an annual subscription! a I D 0 D D 0. j The Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce is often in the news: the annual banquets and business busi-ness meetings with award presentations; pre-sentations; the annual home and garden shows and health fairs, presentations made at chamber luncheons, information provided through their speakers, and notification noti-fication of events. Many calls are made daily to the chamber office for various bits of information - the "when and where" kinds of questions - nearly all are about community events. Why is this? What is expected of a chamber of commerce, and what has it done for the area? The mission statement for the local chamber is: "The Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce is organized for the purpose of advancing the commercial, agricultural, agri-cultural, industrial, educational and civic interests of the Vernal area; to promote integrity and good faith in the community, and to positively represent the area in decisions of city, state and national issues." "Achamber of commerce is basically ba-sically the business community at work as the central agency for community development for business, industry, the professions, profes-sions, and all civic interests," stated JulieCurry, director of the Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce Com-merce "Many services are rendered ren-dered to benefit all citizens." The chamber of commerce is an institution in the United States that is eight years older than the Declaration of Independence. Inde-pendence. The first one to be organized in America was in 1768. Today there are more than 7,000 chambers of commerce in thelLS. Businesses have the opportunity opportu-nity to share with one another and the community. Customers Custom-ers find out about businesses through the chamber of commerce. com-merce. "We promote business involvement in-volvement through our various committee and by the events that we host throughout the year," said Curry. The chamber refers members first to people who call in for information. The chamber directory is included in all relocation reloca-tion packets and is distributed to area hotels. The business symposium provides breakout sessions that applytobusinesses-thesessions have included customer service, hiring and firing and everything in between, advertising, online advertising. This isn't your Grandpa's workforce anymore. The health fair is designed for businesses to "get the word out" about their business. This year Ashley Valley Medical Center did more than 200 blood draws at a minimal cost for cholesterol, thyroid and PSA. The annual radio auction asks businesses to donate their items, and in exchange they are promoted through radio and newspaper advertising and included in-cluded on the chamber website auction. The water conference is scheduled each year to address water issues currently facing our community- Guest speakers come from the state offices to provide "the big picture." April is the month for the Cabin Fever Golf Tournament. Golf tournaments are a great opportunity for business owners own-ers and community members to network. The chamber of commerce annual meeting recognizes businesses busi-nesses of the year, total citizen of the year and this year a new Lifetime Achievement Award was added. Steve Wallis was the honored recipient of this award. In addition to his many contributions contribu-tions to the community, and his leadership as former chamber president, he was the owner, editor edi-tor and publisher of the Vernal Express prior to his death on Jan. 30 of this year. During the holiday season every year, businesses and community com-munity members donate turkeys that are given away on two different Saturdays. The Trees for Charity event raises money for charities. The donor of the tree specifies what charity the tree will be auctioned for and all proceeds from the auction go to the designated charities. The chamber also assists with Holly Days and Breakfast with Santa. Looking back, the chamber was organized in 1949 with a budget of $6,645 and was housed in the Field House. Their very first year, the 21 Counties Committee Com-mittee for the Colorado River Storage Project was formed by the chamber. Congress passed the Colorado River Project in 1955. Other projects the chamber has worked on over the years include raising $3,500 in 1950 to bring back the dinosaur bones from the Carnegie Museum to be housed in the Field House. 1952 must have been a bad winter; the chamber sponsored a hay lift that helped 32 ranches with 8,000 sheep and 1,000 cattle. The chamber was supportive of the building of the National Guard Armory. The first oil shale meeting was held in Vernal in 1958. The chamber worked with the producers of the movie "Ten Who Dared." In 1964 the chamber requested that the state apply for water rights in the White River for oil shale development. de-velopment. In 1967 the chamber spearheaded a fund drive for Christmas street decorations. The first sidewalk sale was in 1970 as part of a chamber project. proj-ect. In 1973, the Dinosaurland Travel Board was organized; it encompasses Uintah, Duchesne and Daggett counties. The following fol-lowing year, Turkey Days was hosted for the very first time. In 1976 there was a huge effort focused on the Dinosaur Gardens. The Chamber Goodwill ambassadors, "The Dinahmites" was formed in 1976. In 1982; Are1 chamber planned a community wide clean up week. Also in 1982 trees were planted in a three-block three-block section of downtown as part of the downtown beautification project. In 1984 the chamber sponsored the rodeo for the first time. In 1985, the chamber organized orga-nized a fundraiser to purchase 10,000 lights for Christmas on Main Street; volunteers hung all the lights. The Dinosaur Gardens Gar-dens committee of the chamber purchased and coordinated the installing of 25,000 lights for Christmas. The first flower planters were installed on Main Street in 1986 The chamber office was relocated to 50 East Main in 1985. Over the years, the Dinosaur Gardens Committee helped get the dinosaur dino-saur replicas for the Dinosaur Gardens. About five years ago, Dr. T.R. Seager donated half the cost of the purchase of an allosaurus and the community raised the other half. "The Trees for Charity Event has grown from raising $6,000 its first year ( 1998) to more than $150,000 in 2006," said Elizabeth Goode, committee member. "This only exemplifies the growth of many other community efforts, born in the hearts of a few, still alive and flourishing because of the support of the Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce." Contact with the chamber can be made by telephone, 435-789-1352, or a visit to the offices at 134 West Main, Vernal. June is the time to hit the library reading ElBcsii2- Exprtss Writer Uintah County Library's "Get a Clue Your Library" summer reading program opening open-ing activity, Detective Carnival, will be on June 7. The library's lead detectives from the Uintah County Library, say "We hope to find you there!" The activity will begin at 1 p.m. on Thursday afternoon and end about 3 p.m., and participants can come at any time. The detective carnival will be in the "Extinct Dinosaur Park," east of the library. The reading program will run for six weeks. Parents will make a contract with their child as to how much time or how many pages will be spent reading weekly. The goal will be based on the child's abilities. Each week, by Wednesday evenine after the reading is completed, the child will bring in the record to the children's section of the library for it to be recorded. A reward will be given when the record is turned in. Drawings will be on June 21 and July 12, with final rewards when the last reading record is turned in. Children and young adults will receive a prize and ticket to the water slide, which will be at the closing activity on July 3 at Wild Waters. The 2007 adult reading program pro-gram begins with the signing of a reading contract, agreeing to read a certain number of books this summer from several cat-, cat-, egories: science fictionfantasy, adult classic, non-fiction, short stories, mystery, western, junior classic, poetry, biography, fiction, romance, and Newberry Award books. |