Trina Little Bear (shown)
4. Smarts Challenge Competition
6. Mobridge Economic Development
Information
11. Calendar
The mission of the Mobridge Chamber of Commerce is to provide able
community leadership that will encourage and work for economic growth
in business, industry and tourism; thereby enhancing the quality of life in
the area we serve. The Chamber will represent the interests and
advancement of its members while promoting responsible principles in the
conduct of business and government.”
2013 - A New Year
Since the end of my first full year at the Chamber has
transpired, it is time for reflection on the Chamber's past
accomplishments and also on the goals yet to achieve for the
coming year. The following is a brief description of each of the
Chamber committees and what they have accomplished.
3B Tax Committee - A solid budget was adopted that strives to provide
funds to showcase our city as a friendly, outdoor, family oriented place that
hosts many activities and events and is also a hunting and fishing mecca. The
budget includes monies to attend trade shows and to co-op with the State on
shows that we cannot attend. The committee ordered USB drives containing
the Chamber member directory and brochures with the same information to
give out to the shows' attendees. A webcam was also installed in Mobridge so
that not only can visitors watch our town from afar but also Keloland can use
the camera to highlight incoming storms and thereby giving us more publicity.
The Friends of Scherr-Howe committee was given funds to help with the start
up of the Event Center and other activities that were partially funded by the 3B
tax were Beef 'n Fun, the Mobridge-Pollock High School Powwow and the Smart
Challenge Science Fair. Advertising in many magazines and newspapers was
also a priority for the committee as was funding to the Mobridge Youth
Organization.
Ambassadors/Ag Committee - This committee was not as busy as
the year previous when all the area towns had their celebrations but we
still had quite a few ribbon cuttings and open houses and we served food
at Beef 'n Fun and at the Eureka Big Q. Because of the weather last year
in February, this group was not able to attend the Business Day at the
Legislature but that event is a normal "must do" on the committee's
calendar.
Basketball tournaments at Scherr-Howe and manned the hospitality
room. Coordination of volunteers for various jobs was completed.
This year we will also be hosting the Regional B Boys Basketball
tournament at the Scherr-Howe Event Center.
Make it Mobridge - This is a new committee that will replace the old
Retail Committee. The mission of this group is to promote and strengthen the
active business community within Mobridge by developing new social events and
growing existing events; and with the assistance of our media representatives,
developing collective campaigns to advertise and promote the diversity of our
local businesses' goods and services. Since we just recently organized Make it
Mobridge, we have only had one promotion and that was the Holiday Promotion
which had the ability to give up to $1,500 in Mobridge Cash and helped to bring
shoppers to Mobridge. The group hopes to have city-wide promotions every
quarter within such events as the Easter Egg Hunt, the 4th of July activities, Crazy
Days and Beef 'n Fun.
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Director's Desk Editorial
Michele Harrison (Cont.)
Tourism - This group is a well established and well managed committee.
Some of the events that this committee hosts is the Annual Ice Fishing
Tournament, the Denny Palmer Walleye Tournament, Surf 'n Turf and the
committee also attends a sports show in Omaha. The 2013 Ice Fishing
Tournament has grown to 500 teams and brings thousands of tourism dollars to
Mobridge. New to this year will be the Ice Expo which will be held in conjunction
with the Ice Tournament.
(Bonus Bucks) program, houses a fishing, hunting & history information center,
funds the community Christmas street decorations, responds to requests for
visitor and relocation packets and maintains the bookkeeping for all the
different committees. We strive to keep the Community Calendar updated
and we are continually upgrading the website www.mobridge.org.
Within each of these committees there are numerous
advances to be made. Not only is the tourism industry
extremely important to our commerce but also important is our
quality of life and the current big ticket item that everyone is
ready to rally around is the new aquatics center. The Chamber
will be making that a priority for 2013.
Annual Chamber Banquet
$300 includes meals, wine, reserved table, special recognition for
your business and great entertainment
REZA
Recognized as one of the Nation’s Top Illusionists, Reza has been featured before millions of people on television, radio, and live shows broadcasting in 31 Countries around the World. Astounding audiences from Denver to New York…Orlando to Los Angeles, critics hail Reza as “One of the Nation’s Top Illusionists,” leading the way in a new era of magic.
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This competition is sponsored by the
Mobridge-Pollock High School and many
surrounding schools have been invited to
attend. Each team will consist of 10
students from grades 9-12 and they will
compete in 6 events that will test their
skills in problem solving, direction following,
creativity and engineering skills. Make a
point to stop by the Event Center to watch
our kids in action.
this day as they are planning to
let the teams go out for lunch!
CONTACTS:
NRCS, SDSU, SD DOR and SDDA
Family Farms 98% of farms in SD are family owned/operated.
Average size of a farm in SD is 1,374 acres.
Average age of SD farmer is 55.7 years.
There are 46,000 producers on 31,800 farms.
Each producer raises enough food to feed 155 people yearly.
Product
---------------- Alfalfa
---------------- 2 2 3 3 4 5 6 7 8
FACT SD has more than 92,000 dairy cows, producing over 1,8 billion pounds of
milk per year.
beef cattle for every state resident.
FACT
South Dakota has over 2500
farms that have been in the same family for more than 100 years.
Milk 4%
Cattle 26%
Corn 27%
Other 3%
Soybeans 21%
Hogs 6%
Turkeys 1%
100 120 140 160
Average Annual Crop Yields
4.5 million acres of corn 4.1 million acres of soybeans
3.6 million acres of hay 2.7 million acres of wheat 2.2 million acres of alfalfa
495,000 acres of sunflowers 105,000 acres of oats
60,000 acres of millet 11,300 acres of pulse crops
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Anyone considering starting their own business should really check into
what the Mobridge Economic Development Corporation (also known as
MEDCO) organization has to offer right here. Perhaps you didn’t realize:
MEDCO provides loans to area businesses that have unmet
financing needs or are just starting out. The organization has
loaned out over $1 million since its inception to small businesses
that invested over $3 million into the economy, hiring local people
and doing business with other local companies.
The smallest loan MEDCO made was $1,500 and the largest was
$150,000. Loans have been used to meet needs for inventory,
equipment, and expansion, with the interest proceeds re-invested
to make dollars available for the next new business.
MEDCO operates in a 4-county area (Walworth, Campbell,
Corson, and Dewey), supporting regional economies.
MEDCO recently launched a new website and blog at
www.makeitmobridge.org which includes useful information and
forms.
Entrepreneurs can obtain free help from MEDCO for any aspect of
starting a new business.
service, manufacturing, and construction.
Special loan funds are set aside to improve storefronts for as little
as 4% interest, with no down payment, and available to businesses
throughout Mobridge.
employment info locally available to area businesses.
MEDCO will be 27 years old. It has been investing in companies
and jobs in this area for decades and is well positioned to
continue many more years in the future.
Mobridge Economic
Development Corporation
Robert & Cheryl Maisch
MEANDERING AROUND MOBRIDGE
DAKOTA TERRITORY’S FIRST UNOFFICIAL GOVERNOR (by Robert and Cheryl Maisch)
A saying, often mistakenly attributed to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, is: “In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way." This pretty well describes the forming of the Dakota Territory. It did not happen on a whim just before the signing establishing the Territory on March 2, 1861 by President Buchanan. In 1858 when Minnesota became a state the area from the present Minnesota western border to the Missouri River was again considered unorganized. The early settlers set about the task of forming an interim provisional government with Wilmot Brookings appointed Governor by the upper house of the area legislature. Wilmot Wood Brookings was born October 23, 1830 in Woolwich, Maine to Abner and Susannah Bayley Brookings. He graduated from Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine in 1855, taught school in the area and was then admitted to the bar in May 1857. (Cheryl has been wondering if her great grandfather may have known the Brookings family as the Wetherbee family was living in the area during this time.) In August 1857 Brookings relocated to Sioux Falls which was then still part of the Minnesota Territory. He helped the early settlers organize the Minnehaha county government and was appointed County District Attorney. On a horseback trip from Sioux Falls to Yankton during the freezing weather of February 1858 his horse fell in a creek. He survived but due to severe frost bite, both legs were amputated and he endured the discomfort of two wooden legs the remainder of his life. The Federal Government refused to recognize the provisional government or the governor. Brookings continued to serve in many political and private enterprises. He participated in organizing the Dakota Southern Railroad which became part of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. He purchased and was editor of Sioux Falls newspaper (now known as Argus Leader). He was President of Minnehaha Trust Co., Director of Sioux Falls National Bank and National Realty Co. He served on the Territory Council, was Associate Justice of the Territory Supreme Court and was a member of the Constitution Convention. He died in 1905 riding a streetcar in Boston, Massachusetts on his return trip from a visit to Woolwich, Maine. He is buried in Yankton. The county and city of Brookings and the town of Wilmot are named for Wilmot Brookings.
Judge Wilmot W. Brookings
Larry Jensen Motors.
Leasing, LLC on their purchase of New Evarts Resort
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Tournament
Tourism Report
There will be 500 two man teams in Mobridge for this tournament.
Let them know how much we appreciate their participation in our event.
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Board of Directors B J Wiest, President Dacotah Bank 845-3673
Vice President, Nicole Schneider Mobridge Regional Hospital 845-3692
Treasurer, Cindi Volk Great Western Bank 845-7233
Director, Brent Kemnitz
MoRest Motel 845-3688
Director, Lyle Lindeman
Director, Delphine Steuck
Director, Jeff Jensen Jerry's Pawn & Gun Shop 845-3855
Staff
Committees
North Central SD Economic Development
4th Monday of each Month – 4 pm Christine Martin-Goldsmith, Executive Director 845-5202
3B Tax Committee
1st Friday of each Month – Noon @ Pizza Ranch Michele Harrison, Chair 845-2387
Tourism Committee
3rd Thursday of each Month – 10:00am @ Chamber Rick Bolduan, Co-Chair 845-2946 Dawn Konold, Co-Chair 845-3654
www.mobridgeoutdoors.com
Make It Mobridge Committee Michele Harrison, Chair 845-2387
CHAMBER BOARD, STAFF, &
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East 10am-3pm American Legion
BBB/GBB @ Miller
WR @ Lyman
@ Winter Expo
@ Winter Expo
BBB/GBB
Winter Expo
13 Guys & Gals
Play 2:30pm
East 10am-3pm
Jr. Honor Choir
20 MPHS Drama Team/ One Act
Play 7:00pm
BBB/GBB H Chamberlain
@ Rick's Cafe
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