UPCOMING EVENTS:

October 1 & 2: W C Heritage Days Festival

October 1 & 2: Camp Fontanelle Corn Maze

October 5: Chamber Ambassadors Mtg @BACC

October 6: Ladies Day Out!

October 6: WCB Community Cookout 5-7pm

October 8: Blair Rotary Fundraiser SUPERBAND

October 1-31: 4th Annual Scarecrow Contest

October 12: Downtown Business Mtg. 730am

October 13: Chamber Chat on @River Country 97.3

October 13: Lead Your Legacy Lunch & Learn @HTR

October 13: NIFA Community Mtg/Homeownership

October 13: MCH & HS Chamber After Hours

October 16: Search for Treats @Camp Fontanelle

October 17: MAPA Update Public Mtg @BACC

October 18: Three Rivers Public Health “Step It Up!”

October 18: Ribbon Cutting @Orr’s Golden Hour Photo

October 19: BACC Board of Directors Mtg

October 20: LWC Education Day

October 23: Search for Treats @Camp Fontanelle

October 25: Blair Optimist Club Fashion Show @HTR

October 27: Jensen Lawn Solutions After Hours

October 31: HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

November 3: Overtime Regs Lunch & Learn

November 17: LWC Graduation Day

November 17: 15th Annual Sugarplum Festival

* October 1-15 Vote for BACC Board of Directors

* Save the date: Thursday January 26, 2017 for the BACC & GDC Joint Annual Meeting

Take a look at our website www.BlairChamber.org for many more events going on for kids, families and business networking!

What’s new at the Blair Area Chamber of Commerce

Good Afternoon!

It’s officially fall, I have sure been enjoying this weather. Scarecrows are beginning to pop up all over the area. Be sure to let me know If your business is participating. Votes can be cast at any participating location OR by liking the photos on the BACC Facebook page. Preparations are in full swing for our 15th annual Sugarplum festival, save the date November 17th! Letters with more infor-mation will be coming out soon. If your business is not located downtown but you are interested in being a part of the event, let me know and we can find a place for you to set up or another business to partner with.

I spent a two days in Columbus, NE for the Nebraska Chamber of Commerce Executives (NCCE) Annual Fall conference a few weeks ago. This is a great opportunity to meet with Chamber Directors from across Nebraska . The first evening we did some team building at a paint & coffee shop then had a networking reception at the Husker Helicopter Hangar where we got to go for a brief tour in their Helicopter. Our featured Presenter was Frank Kenny, he is a former Chamber professional that was one of the first in the U.S to embrace content and digital marketing. He taught us all about effec-tive Content Marketing, Social Media do’s & don’ts for Chambers, and so much more! We also had the pleasure of having his wife, Norma Davey, present about creating images, posters, presentations , etc, for use at the Chamber. There was a great round table discussion about the new Over-time Regulations that are set to take place December 1. A lot of the Cham-ber Directors/ staff are having to make some major adjustments to their scheduling of regular work hours events due to this. We have scheduled a Lunch & Learn for November 3 with Scott Moore, Chair-man of the Nebraska State Chamber Labor Relations Council, to discuss how this affects your business. Please RSVP as this will fill up fast!

Last Monday we had a great turnout at our Annual Fall Legislative Forum at MCHHS with Representa-tives from the Nebraska State Chamber and State Senator Lydia Brasch. Chamber President Barry Kennedy gave an overview of what the State Chamber mainly focuses on: Economic Development, Workforce, Job Creation & Re-tention, Friendlier Tax Climate and Fewer Regulations. He also spoke about Key Bills that were enacted in 2016, as well as bills that did NOT pass. Looking ahead to 2017, these are the following big issues coming up in the Nebraska Legislature: New Unicam-eral Leadership (roughly 25% turnover), New budget, Workforce & Housing, Tax Reform and Correc-tions/ Prisons. Jamie Karl gave us statistics on where Nebraska measures up on different issues such as Top States for Business, State & Local Tax Burden, Income & Sales Taxes and more. If you would like to see some of these statistics, please contact me.

October 1-17th is the time to cast your vote for the new members of the BACC Board of Directors. Please email me directly with your votes. One vote per Chamber Member Business. The following Chamber Member representatives have been nominated: Doug Anderson, 2nd Vice Presi-dent of Commercial Lending at Washington County Bank; Tracy Behnken, Extension Educator and Unit Leader at the Washington County Extension Office; Denise Dein, Vice President and Cashier at Two Rivers Bank; Jane Ferneding, Assistant Vice President and Business Banking Relationship Manager with US Bank; Joel Jorgensen, Store Manager at Country Tire; and Jane Van Horn; Camp Coordinator at Camp Fontanelle. Please watch your email for more information about each nominee and then cast your vote!

There are a lot of activities and events going on in the area. The first Washington County Heritage Days is happening this weekend in Fort Calhoun, as well as the last Living History weekend for the year at Fort Atkinson. This should be a great event and a way to draw tourism to the area. Camp Fontanelle has their Pumpkin Patch & Corn Maze (as well as many other activities there to enjoy) open on the weekends through Halloween- Get out there and enjoy this beautiful weather!

Chamber

Happenings

September 2016

Blair Area Chamber of Commerce

1646 Washington St. Blair, NE 68008 402-533-4455 Jordan@Blairchamber.org Shannon@Blairchamber.org www.BlairChamber.org

On Thursday September 22nd, our Leadership Washington County Class had our “Agriculture in Washington County Day.” The day was coordinated by LWC Class II Alum Lynette Hansen with the Enterprise Publishing Company. We started our day at the Papio-Missouri NRD with a presentation by Terry Schumacher. We learned about their Farm Services, their work on protecting ground and surface water, creating and enhancing wild-life habitats and their current situation where the NRD Board recently approved an agree-ment with Lakeland Estates Water Company to supply water to the Lakeland community along with numerous other subdivisions near the intersection of Hwy 133 and County Rd. 34 in central Washington County. From there, we visited Jody Koziol and Annie Pawol at Hold Your Horses. They provide equine assisted therapy and many other services and events at their location. We did an activity with the horses then visited with their goats and chickens. Our next stop was out to Santa’s Woods to learn about their Christmas Tree Farm. They have over 30,000 Christmas trees growing on their farm, with about 6 different types of trees. This year they are trying something new with different colored real trees available for purchase. Our group then met at Fernando’s for a steak lunch sponsored by the Washing-ton County Cattleman’s Association. Our Guest speaker was Steve Tonn from the Washing-ton County Extension Office. He gave us an overview of the state agriculture including the Farm Operations (# of operations, # of acres operated), Cattle/ Beef inventory, Cattle/ Milk inventory, Goats, sheep and hogs. He also provided us information about where Nebraska Ranks in US Agriculture– 1st in Dry Edible beans, cattle on feed, cropland/ irrigate acres, 2nd in Bison inventory, 3rd for corn for grain to 6th for sugarbeets and 10th for potatoes. We had great feedback from the participants from his presentation, so much diverse infor-mation that was shared and great conversation! The next visit was to Kempke Family Farm Operations to meet with Phil and Nate Kempke. They gave a history of their family operation and how things have changed/evolved over the years. We then went to J & C Simmentals Beef Operation in Arlington. &C Simmentals is a family owned and operated Simmental cattle business. Today, the base herd consists of 150 registered Simmental cows and 20 Angus cows. Our last stop of the day was at Camp Fontanelle in Nickerson. Jane Van Horn gave us a brief history of the Camp and how it has grown over the years. She told us about their mission, how the pumpkin patch and corn maze funds their summer camps and all the different activities that are going on there. They have ponies, alpacas, rabbits and more in their petting zoo. The Leadership participants got to enjoy their zip line which was a great experience. There are educational and recreational activities for all ages. Hard to believe this class is winding down– just one more full day, Education Day, in October and then Graduation in November.

Upcoming Events ~ Please Join Us!

Volunteers are needed to help at Camp Fontanelle Search for Treats in the maze on Sundays October 16th & 23rd

BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT :

HEARTLAND TASTING ROOM & TAP HOUSE

1669 Washington Street Blair, NE

(402) 533-8018 e-mail: rjferrington@abbnebraska.com

The Heartland Tasting Room & tap House on the Corner of 17th & Washing-

ton Streets in Blair is owned by Joy & Rich Ferrington. They opened on August 6th of

2015. Rich previously owned Jake’s Sports Bar & Grill in Blair from 2007-2013. Rich

sold that business and went to work for Safeway in California for two years and then

he realized that he wanted to be back in Blair , when this opportunity presented it-

self.

He lives here with his wife and their identical twin daughters. His parents

owned a vineyard in the wine country of Northern California when he was growing

up, and his brother was a winemaker, so this gave him a good knowledge of the

wine business. Rich loves the Blair area and wanted to have an upscale bar, some-

where that is considered more of a preferred destination for people. He envisions

the HTR being a special meeting place for friends, family, and coworkers. On any

given business day, you will find Rich and Joy along with their two other employees,

serving their patrons specialty cocktails with premium liquors along with wines from

Nebraska and around the world and different craft beers. HTR has a diverse food

menu to go along with their selection of beverages including flat bread pizzas, meat

& cheese trays and spinach artichoke dip .

Rich says the best thing about his job, is having the independence that

comes along with owning your own business, and the enjoyment of seeing it grow.

You can attend any number of unique events at the Tasting Room. They have Trivia

Night weekly, they offer catered meals once a month on the 2nd Friday, comedy

night through out the year, painting events and Fashion Shows. He enjoys partner-

ing with the other local business for events and giving back to the community. The

HTR is available for rent for special events such as wedding receptions, birthday par-

ties, class reunions, graduations, holiday gatherings– you name it, he has probably

hosted it there!

Check out their Facebook page or website www.heartlandtastingroom.com

for a full calendar of events, business hours and more!

Events & Ambassadors

Ambassadors Corner : Thank You to the following Businesses that contributed to the 2nd

Annual Ambassador Appreciation Luncheon:

Corbion

Country Gardens Blair Florist

Two Rivers Bank

Enlivant (Carter Place)

Washington County Bank

Cargill

Metropolitan Community College

Blair Eye Associates

Nick’s Italian Café

Ahead of the Curve Salno & Spa

Sam & Louies NYP

Great Plains Communications

Family Fare

ClaireCo., LLC

Hansen Chiropractic Wellness

Lincoln Federal Savings Bank

Jimmy John’s

Thank you to everyone that came out to the Chamber After Hours at

Great Plains Communications!

Great food & Great conversations.

Thank You to Great Plains Communications for hosting!

Annual Fall Legislative Forum with Barry Kennedy CAE, IOM, President

of the Nebraska State Chamber; Jamie Karl Vice President Public

Affairs & Policy and State Senator Lydia Brasch. Thanks to everyone

that attended!

September 2016

Novozymes, NP Dodge, US bank, (WCHA) Heritage Days