Chamber Corner: December 5, 2011

Keep It Local, Collaborative Corner, &

Magical Christmas in Glenwood Overview

By Scott Formo

            Thanks goes out to

Central Square

for hosting our first Magical Christmas in Glenwood with the 2^nd Annual Free Movie Night. This event featured an opportunity for kids to enjoy a movie, parents to enjoy some shopping time without the kids (as it is chaperoned and you can drop off and pick up the kids after the movie), and even a time for parents and kids to enjoy a family night out in Glenwood for a free movie. This year’s movie was “Elf” starring Will Ferrell. Central Square offers free popcorn for the event and everyone had the opportunity to purchase a bottle of water to wash it down with!

Special thanks for Dorothy Jenum, Kathy Ray, and Heather for helping to chaperone the event. This year’s attendance was much larger than last years, with 40+ kids in attendance as well as some adult family members! You could hear the excitement in Kathy Ray’s voice in last week’s KMGK Magic 107.1 FM Collaborative Corner about the possibility for

Central Square

to participate with this type of event, which we anticipate will continue to grow in the coming years.

Collaborative Corner is a weekly spotlight, Thursday’s at 9:00 a.m. when local area organizations and event organizers are featured in a radio interview to talk about local area events. This week, be sure to listen to the Collaborative Corner on KMGK Magic 107.1 FM at 9:00 a.m. to hear more about the 2^nd Annual Lighted Holiday Parade and Glenwood State Bank’s Free Community Supper as part of the traditional Magical Christmas in Glenwood celebrations. Be sure to look for local area specials and a sneak peek at next week’s events in elsewhere in the Pope County Tribune, on the Chamber website (http://www.glenwoodlakesarea.org/) and on Facebook.

More and more businesses are promoting the Keep It Local logos in their advertising and publicity, which is great to see. Each week during December, the Chamber email blasts will feature and showcase those businesses that are incorporating the logos into their websites, Facebook pages, radio, and newspaper advertising. We now have a Keep It Local Facebook Page for people to “Like” and for businesses to help further promote their support of the campaign. If you see a new ad that is sporting the logo, please contact the Chamber just in case I miss it when I am looking around. These ads will be shown in the email blasts and on our Keep It Local Facebook fan page, so keep up the great work everyone in helping to spread the word!

Speaking of Keeping It Local and Magical Christmas in Glenwood, this provides a great opportunity for me to further promote our own Chamber Minnewaska Dollars! What a great way to give a gift to a loved one, show your appreciation for employees, or for those “Secret Santa” types of gift exchanges to promote local spending, while allowing flexibility to spend it anywhere in Glenwood (or outside of Glenwood at Glenwood Chamber merchants).

Minnewaska Dollars are basically a check (similar to your own personal checks) issued and guaranteed by the Glenwood Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce that is accepted by all Glenwood businesses that accept checks (I’m not aware of any that don’t accept them). Minnewaska Dollars can be purchased at the Glenwood Chamber office in amounts equal to $5 and $10 each. Just another way to “Keep It Local” and guarantee the support to our local area businesses and Chamber members! Consider it for an easy Christmas gift or employee bonus! It’s just as good as CASH! Who doesn’t like that??

I’m looking forward to this week’s Lighted Christmas Parade, which will feature many of our local area businesses, organizations, families, and our emergency response personnel! It proves to be a great event, followed by a free community supper! Don’t forget to bring your cameras for pictures with Santa, Ringo (Alexandria Beetles Baseball mascot), and Eddie (Alexandria Blizzard Hockey mascot), or just pose with your family, friends, or by yourself for a Magical Christmas in Glenwood picture! Until next week…