Newsletter  June 2004 

New Members - The Chamber welcomes the following new member: 

                                Whitaker Lodge 

Membership Renewals - Thanks to the following businesses & individuals for renewing their Chamber membership:

                                Grant Animal Clinic                 Keystone Automotive Ind.      

                                Video Shack                             Pierce Harris, State Farm

                                REMART Motors                       Angler Marine, Inc.

                                Weeks Construction                Collazo Farms

                                Clay Marina                             Mimi’s Café

                                Ivy Cottage Antiques             McLaughlin & Edmundson

                                Show Car Products                   Whitaker Backhoe Services

                                Peoples State Bank                  Grant Family Medicine

                                Porky’s BBQ                           Waterfront Grocery

                                               

Highlights of 2nd Quarter 2004  Board Meetings & Events: 

·          The monthly meetings of the Board of Directors were held on April 6, May 11, and June 8.  Don Milligan, President called the meetings to order at the Chamber office.  The minutes of the previous meetings were approved.  The Treasurer reported a balance of $897.00 as of April 6,  $2,211.52 as of May 11 and $2,959.39 as of June 8.
 

·          The Annual Members banquet was attended by over 120 people.  Entertainment was provided by  the DAR Ensemble.  Several speakers helped to enhance the patriotic theme as well as a power point presentation of events from 2003. Horizon Communications video taped the entire banquet.   Chamber awards and community awards were presented.  Several nice door prizes were given away at the banquet.  The banquet has been aired on the community channel  TV station several times.  You may order a tape ($15.00) or DVD ($25.00) of the banquet from Mike Hardin, Horizon Communications.  We have had many nice comments about the banquet.  Thanks to all who worked so very hard to make this a success.
 

·          An Early Bird Coffee, hosted by The First Bank of the South, was held on June 4^th in the Patriot Room.  Attendees were entertained by Steve Mercer, who played his harmonica, sometimes called french harp.  Steve credits his Grandfather for instilling his love for the harmonica in him at an early age.  Steve also gave us an interesting history of the harmonica.  A delicious breakfast buffet was enjoyed by all who attended.  Thanks to Patty Rice, who took care of all the arrangements.
 

·          Joe Powell is heading up the golf tournament on June 19 at the Twin Lakes Golf Course in Arab.  Joe led a discussion on the upcoming tournament and set up the following committees: 

Sponsorship – Don Milligan, Joe Powell, Bobby Joe Rice

Prizes – Jean Brewer, Naomi Barfield

Teams – Russ Hamilton, Sheila Barbuck, Brenda Barnes

Food – Naomi Barfield, Carolyn Dennis, Sheila Barbuck, Jean Brewer, Bobby Joe Rice

Registration – Hilda Page, Ruby Milligan, Larry Walker, Jimmy Page, Libby Bevel

Photographer – Don Brewer

Publicity – Sheila Barbuck

 

Each Chamber member will be contacted regarding sponsorship of either a hole or an individual player.   

·          Susan Mauck, chairman of the Ambassador’s committee, reported that three Ambassadors have resigned and we need to search for more volunteers to fill those positions in order to keep the office open every day of the week.  Susan has also taken on the responsibility of creating the calendar for the Ambassadors each month.  If you could volunteer at least 4 hours once a month to work as an Ambassador , please call the Chamber office or Susan. 

·          Libby Bevel, chairman of the Events committee, would like to thank everyone who worked so hard on the Annual Banquet and to Patty Rice, who coordinated the Early Bird Breakfast.  The next Early Bird Breakfast will be sponsored by the DAR School sometime in August.  You will receive a notice by mail when dates are confirmed. 

·          Terri Powell, chairman of the Tourism committee, and Sheila Barbuck attended the North Marshall County Visitors and Convention board meeting in June.  This meeting was hosted by the Albertsville COC at the Recreation Center.  A bar-b-que lunch cooked by Big Bob Gibson was provided for all attendees.  Terri  reported that cook-offs are  one of the fund raiser projects that other Chambers are doing with great success and it’s something we might consider having in the future. 

·          Don Milligan, President, accepted Ann Barnes resignation from the Board.  Ann cited work conflicts as the reason for her resignation.  Ann has been the DAR School Coordinator chairman and has done an outstanding job.  Thank you for all you have done for the Chamber.  We will miss you. 

·          Merchant’s Coordinator, Russ Hamilton, will be mailing out a business survey soon.  Please take a little time to fill this out and mail it back to us.  This survey will help the Chamber  to understand how we can improve on ways to better serve the community. 

·          Jean Brewer recommended that the Board dissolve the Theme Committee until the sewer lines are laid.  She submitted her resignation as Chairman of the Theme Committee and Don Brewer, President, accepted her resignation. 

·          Charlotte Pierce, 2^nd Vice Chief of the Cherokee Tribe of Northeast AL, was a guest speaker at our April monthly meeting.  Charlotte talked about the Cherokee Tribe’s plan to acquire land in the Grant area and their development projects, such as building a RV park.  She talked about the Native American Festival that was in May at the Grant City Park.  Another Festival is planned in September for the “Trail of Tears” motorcycle ride.  This event is expected to bring in a lot of visitors to Grant.  She asked that we help in any way we can to help with an overflow crowd.

 

Upcoming Events-