WEEKLY UPDATE FROM THE GREATER CLINTON-AREA CHAMBER OF COMMERCE/BY DAVID LEE-DIRECTOR: 4/1/22

I hope you have seen my posts this week concerning the opening of the new Burkes Outlet in the Truman Lake Mall.  If you didn’t see the photos, Monday featured pretty much just an empty store with signs on the wall and hanging from the ceiling and employees getting ready to unload a truck.  Tuesday’s photos featured a lot of boxes on the floor of the store and some merchandise where it needed to be.  Burkes Outlet will open to the public on April 4th with their Grand Opening coming up April 7th.

A couple of members of the Clinton Tourism Association, Bucksaw Resort and Marina, Everharts and others had a great meeting with the coach of the Clinton Cardinal Bass Fishing Club, Kevin Lafavor, Monday morning at the Chamber of Commerce. The CTA, Bucksaw and Everharts pledged their support and money to help this Club get started this year. If you would like to donate money, time, equipment, etc., please contact Kevin at klafavor@clintoncardinals.org.

Members of the Ag Committee of the Clinton Chamber of Commerce and the Henry Co. Sale Committee presented checks on Wed. for the new school farm coming soon. This is from the Clinton School District’s Facebook page late last year: The Clinton High School FFA Chapter is excited to announce that students will soon have the opportunity to learn what it takes to raise and maintain livestock right here at school! The proposed school farm will sit on 5 acres to the south of the high school.  If you are interested in helping, donations of farm supplies (gates, feed, hay, stock tanks, etc.) or monetary donations are needed. Please contact Tanner Robertson for more information, trobertson@clintoncardinals.org.

There is a lot of activities taking place on the Downtown Clinton Square this weekend.  The Spring Sidewalk Sales, the annual Quilt Walk, Breakfast with the Easter Bunny, a Maker’s Mart and more.  You can stay up-to-date with Clinton Main Street when you follow their Facebook page.

660-885-8166. That’s the telephone number to the Greater Clinton Area Chamber of Commerce. 660-885-2281. That’s the number to the Clinton Daily Democrat…those are the folks that put on the city-wide garage sales in the spring and fall. However, feel free to call us with any question you might have. And believe me, we get a lot of calls I never would have suspected a Chamber of Commerce would receive!  

We preach it a lot, but I’ll say it again; Shop and Buy Local First.  Many if not all of our businesses in Clinton are needing you to buy from them, especially those on the Downtown Square.  Don’t let human error in one building keep you from going into our wonderful businesses on the Square.

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.

You can be ‘Featured’, BUT YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA.  READ MORE HERE: You want your business to be featured but you don’t want to be recorded.  We can do that with pictures and a story. The day after Labor Day last year, the Clinton Chamber began our ‘Featured with David Lee’ program.  If you are a Chamber member, you could be ‘Featured’. We recorded more than 50 videos in the fourth quarter of 2021 and filled the Chamber’s Facebook page with those videos of our Chamber members.  The videos featured business owners, managers and others getting the message out to the public. The Facebook posts featured the interview and photos of area businesses.  Once a week for a month, the ‘Feature’ was brought back to the top of our Facebook page.  After a month, of course it will still be on our Facebook page. HOWEVER, we realize not everyone is comfortable in front of a camera being interviewed.  So, David can come to your business, take some pictures and you can tell him what you would like the Chamber to say about your business and we’ll include that info along with the photos. We will post these photos along with your information on the Chamber’s Facebook page and update it on our page once a week for a month. So contact us at 660-885-8166 or email david@clintonmo.com.  We are also still recording the videos as well if you would like to do that. It’s just another service of your Clinton Chamber of Commerce.

We have several committees here at the Clinton Chamber and volunteers are always welcomed.  Our committees include Academic Excellence, Agriculture, Ambassadors, Military Affairs, Olde Glory Days and Tourism.  If you would like to get involved in helping to move Clinton forward, just call, email, stop by or if you see me out and about…let’s visit!  

Is it time to become a member of the Greater Clinton-Area Chamber of Commerce for 2022?  Well, of course it is!  Businesses, couples, individuals, ANYONE can be a member of the Chamber.  Call us at the Depot or email and we will tell you what you get and more just for belonging to the Clinton Chamber of Commerce. 

The State of MO and the Clinton Chamber of Commerce are working to get jobs filled. If you are looking for a job or if you are looking for employees, we are here to help: IF YOU ARE AN EMPLOYER OR A JOB SEEKER we want to remind you of Missouri Job Center resources supported by your tax dollars. There are two great locations at 515 S. Kentucky Ave, Sedalia P.660-530-5627 and 621 E. Highland Ave, Nevada P.417-448-1177. We offer an amazing website https://jobs.mo.gov/ that can be conveniently utilized from your personal computer. A chat feature has recently been added to assist with questions. You may also call during business hours and receive one on one services over the phone. Job Centers are eager to assist employers and job seekers in your community.

Don’t forget, if you’re a business owner and belong to the Chamber, be sure to update those Facebook pages so we can share your information on the Chamber’s Facebook page. Be sure to like us on Facebook: Greater Clinton Area Chamber of Commerce or check out www.clintonmo.com.

We are writing a lot of checks to Chamber member businesses as they either bring in or mail to us gift certificates they have received. Joyce and I are also going to businesses to complete this process as well. People buy these to give to friends, family, co-workers, employee of the month, as a thank you and so many other reasons. Call 660-885-8166 and order your gift certificates. They will be ready when you get here.

We get about three or four inquires each week from the public about places to rent in Clinton. We do have a list of landlords we give to them or email. If you have houses or apartments to rent, make sure the Chamber knows about it so you will be on the list.