Wild weather seems to be a regular occurance.....

Some of our business members received damage to their buildings and property during the high winds and crazy weather last week. We can be thankful there weren't serious injuries to humans or animals. The SPCA will need our community support even more now that they have lost the building that would have potentially been their new residence.

We have a member satisfaction survey out to members right now. Please take a minute to fill in this 5 questions survey and return to us. It is important that we hear from you about the priority issues for the upcoming year. At any time that you have a suggestion about how the Chamber can serve the business community better, we want to hear from you.

Kevin & I have attended our first Primary Health Care working group joint meeting. The vision and objectives were discussed and over the next few weeks it will be important for us to hear from our members about what the business community believes to be the important considerations. Surveys may be the tool used to collect that information.

The first ever Chamber Nine & Dine will be held on August 24th at Rolling Greens Fairway. This will be a nine hole texas scramble event beginning with registration at 5:00 and shot gun start at 5:30 followed by appetizers and refreshments. This event co-sponsored by the Chamber and Rolling Greens is a great deal. $35.00 for golf, half a cart, and food and refreshments with an early bird registration opportunity to win a set of golf clubs with bag provided by Sport Chek. Early bird deadline in August 12th. Call the Chamber office 780-875-9013 or check it out on the Chamber website at http://www.lloydminsterchamber.com/  . Mulligan draws, 50/50 and men's and ladies prizes.

You won't want to miss the Chamber Business Week Awards Gala this year. It will be held at the Vic Juba theatre. Watch for details in the Chamber newsletter. Many local businesses have been nominated for awards in eight categories. Every nominated business will be eligable to compete for the Business of the Year award.  In addition to the usual business week events, the Chamber will be partnering with other local organizations to present the 2nd annual Men's Conference during business week. Watch for details.

The Chamber and Streetscapes encourages all businesses to get in the spirit of the CPCA finals by decorating your buisness in the western theme. Local artist, Michele Lake, is available for hire to paint your windows and the Lloyd Ex has said they have a few hay bales available for decorating purposes. Let's welcome the drivers, their families and the spectators to town. These types of events contribute to a healthy economy.

Till next time ........
Pat

45 Chamber Executive Directors in town ...

  This past week I was pleased to host forty-five of my colleagues -  Chamber Executives from Alberta and Saskatchewan for the annual professional development summit. This is a great opportunity to share ideas, best practices and learn together from exceptional speakers. This year's speakers were our very own Lloydminster professionals, Robin Acton and Jeff Mulligan. Both speakers focused on leadership and what it takes to be a leader in todays world. Participants came from as far north as Le Crete & Grand Prairie to Airdre and Regina in the south to Nipiwin in the east. The conference was held at the West Harvest Inn where Marlene & her staff provided outstanding service. The Lloydminster sponsored fun night was held at the Barr Colony Heritage Cultural Centre where conference participants had an  opportunity to visit the exhibits and enjoy food & refreshments supplied by Chamber of Commerce Group Insurance agent, Tim Dyck.

Although I was unable to attend the parade due to my duties at the conference, I understand that it was entertaining and colorful with lots of SMILES! Corine and Carley along with our summer students, Kirsten and Eryn worked hard on our float and appreciated the help of volunteers to hand out the bubble wands.
The "fair" is such a great event for our community bringing hundreds and thousands of dollars to our economy. We appreciate all the hard work of the Lloydminster Exhibition Association who put on this first class event year after year.

Another very colorful event that I attended this past week-end was the Onion Lake Pow Wow. The talents of the dancers and singers at this event is outstanding. The clothing worn for the dancing events is beautiful and I would encourage anyone who hasn't had an opportunity to attend to mark it on your calendar for next year. In addition to the entertainment, there is great food and interesting and lovely crafts.

If you have been downtown you may have seen the Streetscapes summer students in their bright blue t-shirts working hard to keep our downtown free of litter. The students work for 7 weeks over the summer emptying the garbage cans, cleaning the bulletin boards, weeding the flower beds and picking up garbage from the street. I hope that everyone will remember to use the garbage cans and not throw litter on the street.

I am looking forward to working on the Primary Health Care working group over the summer. I will work on the Alberta group and president Kevin will work with the Saskatchewan group. If you haven't had a look at the consultant recommendations yet, please do so on the Prairie North Health Region  website.

I am pleased to report that Karin Winter will be re-joining our staff on July 25th after her leave. We look forward to having Karin back.

Till next time ......
Pat