The Garretson Commercial Club’s regular monthly meeting was held on Wednesday, March 10, 2021 at O So Good.
The first item of business was to determine what Jesse James Days would look like in 2021. With all of last year’s events canceled and the Coronavirus still a factor, the question was, what did the Commercial Club want to set as the dates for the festivities. President John Brinkman said with vaccination numbers on the rise, he felt confident having Jesse James Days this year. Numbers projected by the CDC and others have the country reaching herd immunity by the summertime, so with that in mind the members present discussed possible dates. Conflicts abounded this summer as to when a good time would be to have the event that wasn’t in its usual time of Father’s Day weekend. Since the vaccine rollout for the most vulnerable people should be long done by then, and the general population able to receive their vaccine’s by April/May, the ordinary dates for Jesse James Days of June 18-20 should work, and the club board voted to make it so.
Next, Vice President Garrick Moritz told the Commercial Club about a conversation he’d had with a customer recently. This customer wanted to know why Garretson didn’t have a local Arts & Crafts Festival. So, Moritz posed this question to the Commercial Club. In the past they’ve had Arts & Crafts vendor fairs during Jesse James Days and Hometown Christmas, also during the Fall Festivals (i.e. the opening of pheasant hunting season).
The club agreed that it was something they could certainly try during Jesse James Days this year, and proposed to rent the Legion for said purposes.
President Brinkman noted to make reservations for the sound system and inflatables for said weekend. A down payment made last year for inflatables was still a credit on the books with said company.
Brinkman also noted that boring for the new hard lines for the proposed Main Street sound system will begin this spring.
Next, Anna Uhl spoke about the electric sign along Highway 11. The software and sign are already obsolete, technologically speaking. They have set up an old computer at the city office to control the sign. Uhl proposed that it not only be used for announcements, but that the Commercial Club could post messages for a fee for special events or personal events such as birthdays and anniversaries. The consensus was that this was a good notion.
Next, they talked about setting a schedule for the Annual Meeting. Brinkman and Moritz agreed to work out a final agenda. Discussion ensued on whether or not to do a full meal and catered event or just hors d’oeuvres. This discussion was postponed until the date loomed closer for a final decision. (Brinkman and Moritz met later in the month, and decided, with Minnehaha County COVID-19 numbers spiking again, it was best to make the event as brief as possible, so just hors d’oeuvres would be served and Brinkman will make the arrangements with Garretson Food Center.)
Omar Thornton of O So Good has agreed to fill one of the open board positions on Commercial Club Board. Guy Johnson and Laurie Bennett have agreed to renew their board positions. This means that at the annual meeting they need only to fill two open positions, that of Vice-President/President elect for 2022 and Club Secretary. All members present were encouraged to help with recruiting as these two open positions were essential for the club, especially the Secretary position.
As far as other business to come before the board, at the last meeting, Carrie Moritz of the Gazette, and the designated Grow Garretson liaison to the club, had proposed at the last meeting that the Commercial Club use the old website domain that the city would no longer be using after their new website was developed. She also suggested that the Commercial Club could secure the domain of www.visitgarretsonsd.com as well and all URLs would direct to a new Commercial Club website. She had several ideas on how to make that website a reality and how to connect it to social media.
Ron Luke proposed that rather than talk about this for a few more meetings before action was taken, that this should get done as soon as possible for the benefit of every Commercial Club member. He asked C. Moritz about how much it would cost for setup and maintenance. She said that for her time and work on a website directory setup she would want about $800. C. Moritz said that once the site was up and running, each individual business would have an account and be able to add data and post information and events.
Luke proposed that the Commercial Club get the process started right away, and made a motion to hire Carrie Moritz to do the website build and to get started as soon as possible. Vice President G. Moritz abstained from the discussion and vote, but all others voted in the affirmative.
The meeting was then adjourned.
