WEEKLY UPDATE FROM THE GREATER CLINTON-AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE/BY DAVID LEE-DIRECTOR: 11/09/23

HAPPY VETERANS DAY…THANK YOU.

Big MO Productions presents: Kornfield Kounty’s Merry Mirth. Nov. 16th and 17th at 7pm and Nov. 18th at 2pm. Delozier Building, 201 West Franklin St., Clinton. All proceeds go to renovating backstage facilities at the Delozier Building. Tickets at the Henry Co. Museum, Chamber of Commerce and The Barbery Center. Director Marty Morgan and cast member Ann Pugh invite you to “Kornfield Kounty’s-Merry Mirth” Nov. 16th, 17th and 18th in Clinton. Watch this video on the Chamber’s Facebook page.

The Chamber, our Ambassadors and others helped Mallard’s Roadhouse celebrate their 10-year anniversary on Wed. Here’s to 10, 15, 20+ more years of great food and people!  Check out the photos on the Chamber’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ClintonMO/

Clinton Main Street Executive Director Amanda Johnson joins the Chamber on our Facebook page the first full week of each month. This week, of course, she’s talking Christmas in Downtown Clinton. One activity is THIS Saturday!  Hear this interview on our Facebook page.

Clinton Main Street·Preparations for the Annual Lighted Christmas Parade (11/24) are underway! Our theme this year is “Light Up Downtown”. We are inviting all businesses, organizations, churches, and individuals interested to participate in the parade. Let’s make this year the biggest one yet! For details, call Amanda at 660-885-2121.

The Clinton Chamber of Commerce is hosting a Holiday Open House Dec. 1st at the Depot (200 South Main) from 2 till 4pm.  There will be meat and cheese, candy and cookies.  Meet your Chamber Board members and employees and find out how you can become a Chamber of Commerce Ambassador.  Use your golf putting skills for a chance to win a free 2024 Chamber membership.  Open to all businesses.   

For the last time in 2023, I gave my bi-monthly report to the Clinton City Council on Tuesday evening.  I update the Council on everything the Chamber and Tourism is doing and trying to accomplish throughout the year.  Those reports to the Council come in Jan., March, May, July, Sept. and Nov.

Wed., I made my weekly trip out to KDKD to record this week’s Chamber Chat that you can hear on 95.3FM on Thursdays at 12:15pm.

The Greater Clinton Area Chamber of Commerce is giving you the chance to get free money! Our “150 to get 25” is underway! All you have to do is buy at least $150 in Chamber gift certificates and we’ll give you an extra gift certificate worth $25. That’s right, spend at least $150 with us and you’ll get an extra Christmas gift worth $25 for someone, or yourself! This promotion will end at noon on Dec. 22nd. We are open Monday through Friday from 8am until 4:30pm. If you would like for your gift certificates to be ready when you come in, just call ahead and tell us how much you are wanting to spend and any names you may want on the certificates. Gift certificates can be used at most of our Chamber-member businesses and you can find all of our more than 400 Chamber members on our website, www.clintonmo.com. To order your gift certificates or if you have any questions, just call 660-885-8166 or email david@clintonmo.com or joyce@clintonmo.com. We are located at 200 South Main St. Only one free gift certificate per household.

It’s Nov. and it’s time for the Holidays! Now, you may think the Holidays don’t actually begin until around Thanksgiving. However, for the Greater Clinton-Area Chamber of Commerce, we are ready to give you a chance to win…several chances to win, actually. It’s the Clinton Chamber’s Fourth-Annual ‘Receipt to Receive’. Right now, folks can bring in or email a receipt from a Clinton Chamber-member business and they will then be entered to win. Thus, Receipt to Receive. At the Chamber, we will copy, scan or print that receipt and get your name and phone number. Keep in mind that the item or items on your receipt has to be at least $25 in total and those items need to be purchased from members of the Clinton Chamber to be entered, but you can enter multiple times each week with different receipts. Each week, those receipts will be entered into a drawing to win $25 in Chamber gift certificates. We will give our prize away each Monday. To be entered to win each Monday, you must bring at least one receipt to the Chamber that previous week. All qualifying receipts will be eligible for our grand prize giveaway. NEW THIS YEAR: WHOEVER BRINGS IN THE MOST RECEIPTS FROM MULTIPLE CHAMBER BUSINESSES WILL GET 10 EXTRA ENTRIES INTO THE GRAND PRIZE DRAWING! On Dec. 22nd at noon, we will take ALL those receipts entered and draw the big winner of $200 in Chamber Gift Certificates. The Clinton Chamber of Commerce is giving away $375 in Chamber gift certificates with our seven weekly winners and that grand prize winner of $200 in Chamber gift certificates. TO HELP SPREAD THE CHEER, PLEASE TRY TO BRING RECEIPTS FROM MULTIPLE CHAMBER BUSINESSES DURING THIS PROMOTION. We are open Monday through Friday from 8am until 4:30pm at 200 South Main St. You can find a list of Clinton Chamber members when you go to www.clintonmo.com, call the Clinton Chamber at 660-885-8166 or look for the Clinton Chamber decal near the front of each business. You can email david@clintonmo.com or joyce@clintonmo.com.

Clinton Animal Shelter-We still have some sponsorships available!! Help a homeless pet by sponsoring a kennel or even a play yard. We currently have 8 Friends of the Felines, 1 Protector Dog Kennel, 8 Hero Dog Kennels and 2 Outdoor Play Yards still waiting for a sponsor. Plaques are going up now and no matter when your plaque goes up in 2023 your year won’t start until January 1, 2024. If you would like a sponsor form emailed or mailed to you please email tlbwilliams94@gmail.com. They are available at the shelter – 1307 N Washington St, Clinton MO and we will put one in the comments. Thank you to everyone who has sponsored so far! We appreciate your support!

The Clinton Tourism Assoc. is happy to announce our Discover Clinton App is now available. https://onelink.to/discoverclinton

We are “Featuring” our Chamber members! On the Chamber’s Facebook page, we are taking text and images from our member’s websites, Facebook pages, Google searches, etc. and combining them into posts on our Facebook page. “Featured with the GCACC”. It gives the viewer a “one-stop shopping experience” for each of our Chamber members. We have a lot of Chamber members so getting every business on our page will take quite a while, but we think it’s well worth it! It’s just another service from YOUR Chamber of Commerce. New this week, we “Featured” SHERMAN PLUMBING AND HEATING…CUMMINGS MEN’S WEAR…CUPCAKES GONE WILD…SHARE AND CARE FOR SPECIAL PEOPLE…SERRANO’S MEXICAN RESTAURANT…DESCOMBES AGRI-BUISNESS…DIETZ FAMILY DINING…AND SERC PHYSICAL THERAPY.  

Here’s a note to our Chamber Members and anyone and everyone looking for employment; The Chamber of Commerce continues to receive calls…people come in…and email us about jobs that might be available in and around Clinton. When we see our Chamber Members post information about job openings, we do share that to our Facebook page. However, we’re pretty sure we don’t catch all of those job opening posts. Please remember that YOUR Chamber is here for YOU. If you (a Clinton Chamber of Commerce Member) have any job openings that you are posting or if you want us to post it for you on our page, just let us know. Let us help you find employees! Send your job openings to: david@clintonmo.com or joyce@clintonmo.com. If you are not a Chamber member, we can still post your openings on our Facebook page for $25.00. If you have any questions at all, email us or call 660-885-8166.

Clinton Schools· ATTENTION CHS ALUMNI As we are nearing Veteran’s Day, we would like to ask for your help. The district would like to honor those CHS alumni who are currently serving, or have previously served, in the armed forces. Along with a picture we would like name, CHS graduation year, branch of military, and years served. Pictures and info can be emailed to alawson@clintoncardinals.org. Deadline for pictures is Monday, November 6th. Pictures will be shared on the district’s Facebook page on Friday, November 10th.

CHS THEATRE DEPARTMENT PRESENTS….You won’t want to miss our Talented Cardinals in this year’s fall play, “‘Til Death Do Us Part”.  Catch this production at one of the two showings:

*November 10 @ 7:00

*November 11 @ 7:00

Tickets prices:  Adults-$5  Senior Citizens-$2  Students-Free

From State Fair Community College – Clinton

We are excited to announce that Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses is recruiting for a special cohort engaging Missouri small business owners. We are reaching out to those who are involved in the Missouri small business ecosystem to assist us with sharing this message and to encourage all who qualify to apply to the program! Join us on Monday, November 13 for a Let’s Get the Word Out webinar from 12:30 – 1:30 pm CST. See webinar and program details below.

KEY HIGHLIGHTS OF THE PROGRAM:

• The program is offered at no cost to the business owner – every business owner selected receives a full scholarship, with tuition funded by the Goldman Sachs Foundation.

• Hands-on education for business growth with a curriculum focused on practical business skills, including negotiations, marketing, and employee management.

• Within 6 months of graduating, 66% of businesses report increasing revenues and 44% added new jobs in the same 6-month time period.

• Access to highly trained professionals who understand what it takes to grow a small business.

• An expansive peer network of small business owners from across the country.

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA:

• Be the owner or co-owner of the business.

• Have a business in operation for at least two years.

• Have business revenues over $75,000 in the most recent fiscal year.

• Have a business with a minimum of two employees (including the owner).

• Apply by December 1, 2023. Classes start February 2024.

• Apply at 10ksbapply.com

• Learn more at 1000 Small Businesses Growing Rural America

Let’s Get the Word Out to Missouri’s Small Businesses Webinar

Monday, November 13, 2023 12:30 – 1:30 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Join Webinar

Meeting ID: 853 6591 2533

Passcode: 758101

The Clinton School District will be celebrating “A Week of Gratitude” the week of November 13th (this is also American Education Week).  We will be using this week to celebrate our staff members, and provide opportunities for our stakeholders to show their gratitude, support and appreciation of our amazing team members.  One of the ways we hope to accomplish this is by asking our community to “PAINT THE TOWN RED AND BLUE”. We are asking businesses, churches, organizations, etc., to put encouraging messages to our staff on their marquees or storefronts. If you choose to participate, please email me a picture so that I can share with our staff and with our community on social media.  Thank you in advance for helping our educators know how much this community cares about them.

Angie G. Lawson

Clinton School District #124

Director of Communications and Community Relations

Bright Futures Clinton Co-Coordinator

School Social Worker-Clinton Early Childhood Center

www.clintoncardinals.org

660-885-5845 ext 8006

The City of Clinton and the Clinton Airport Association will host the New Airport Terminal Groundbreaking Ceremony at noon on Wednesday, November 15th at the Clinton Regional Airport.  The Groundbreaking Ceremony will kick-off the airport terminal project, slated for completion in late-summer 2024.

From The Gabby Girls; Quilt Raffle !!! Mary Cupp/ White Flower Quilt Shop has donated a beautiful, pink, king size quilt to be raffled off for “October Breast Cancer Awareness Month” … we will draw the winner out November 22… So come in to Designer’s Edge and get your raffle tickets… Thank you so much to Mary for donating this beautiful quilt… All proceeds will go to”Wigs for Women “ !!

Henry County Turkey Talkers-We need your help once again this year for the Free Community Thanksgiving Dinner, this is the 34th Year for this community event.

NEEDED

100 Baked/Smoked/Deep Fried Turkeys*

250 Pies (Apple or Pumpkin), 25 Pies have already been pledged.

*If you’d be available to bake turkeys for someone else, please let us know. We have some who can’t bake them, but they donate them to us to have baked. If you’re able to help us we’d appreciate that too.

Delivery Drivers for Thanksgiving Day (covers all Henry County)

Dishwashers (Wednesday evening and Thursday).

Pie Cutters/Roll Wrappers (Wednesday Afternoon)

If you can provide Turkeys, Pies or help deliver or wash dishes, contact Turkey Central at 660-885-6921 (Clinton Flower Shop) let us know. DELIVERED MEAL RESERVATIONS FOR DELIVERED MEALS BEGINS ON November 1st!!!!!

New Growth Women’s Business Center·FREE BUSINESS WEBINAR    Does social media scare you? Do you know how to post and when to respond on your social media platforms?  We have partnered with Dr. Ashley Brown with University of Missouri Extension (MU Extension) to bring you this interactive webinar! Prepare to learn how to play it “safe” when it comes to social media.   Registration now open: https://newgrowth.ecenterdirect.com/events/1019134

Santa Paws 2023-Dec. 2nd from 9 till 3. Bring your pets, kids or just yourself to The Dog Groomer to get pictures with Mr. and Mrs. Claus. The Grinch will be there too. Pick up some Christmas goodies at the bake sale. All money raised goes to the Clinton Animal Shelter. $10 for a digital picture (on provided thumb drive) $15 for a digital picture and a 4×6 printed picture $20 for digital pic, printed 4×6 and 4×6 frame 203 North Washington in Clinton.

Truman Lake Fishing Expo-We’re casting off again with the 2024 Truman Lake Fishing Expo February 9th & 10th, 2024!!! www.trumanlakefishingexpo.com