Good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome, welcome, welcome, and it's time now for our community connection right here on K one, the one you trust. And we have shrey well with this year with the Greater Bartleville Area Chamber of Commerce. And how are you doing, young lady.
You've been busy, have been busy. December is always busy. So we're doing great, good, wonderful.
Now we've had Christmas at the Bill and that's a people skating.
In the fog and that, oh my god, that had to be kind of cool. Community is a killer. But yeah, a lot of fog, but it makes it fun because the lights are on.
So yeah, it kind of looks kind of cool.
Yeah it does, got that. Yeah, yeah, no, it's been good. We open November thirtieth. We have down to five day well technically six, but it looks like Sunday maybe kind of a if you look at the weather forecast, I don't know that we're going to open on Sunday, but yeah, it's looking kind of dicey. But anyhow, Saturday will be open today, Tuesday through Saturday, and it's five days left to enjoy ice skating. So people say they want, you know, something different, to do. They want fun things and for
the kids to do. So this is an opportunity. It's short, but it's here and if you want take advantage of it. Like I said, there's five days left.
And you know, our local businesses have been the beneficiaries of a lot of the visitors coming into town and a lot of folks coming to downtown in particular, they would say, well, I didn't know that was there.
Yeah, So it is several news stores downtown, which is fun. So they've been discovered and there's definitely one of the reasons we do it is to bring people downtown, showcase downtown that's so pretty, especially at Christmas especial if you take one of those carriages. The carriage rides are just so they do a beautiful job with the horses. The carriages are absolutely gorgeous. They are a wonderful family to work with. And then just all the lights and everything.
So it's one of the reasons, like I said, we did, is to showcase our downtown and to bring people downtown. If they come downtown, more than likely they're gonna stop and eat, They're gonna coupley shops, so at least even getting a snack so I can't. I don't have a next next month, I will definitely have numbers and reports. Yes we haven't really, I do know opening night we had about two thousand downtown during that three hour time span.
So Opening Night was great. And then conco Phillips redoes our opening night basically, and then some that following Monday, so we open Saturday. Then they have their private party on Monday, so they probably had that many down there too. So yeah, uh so, lots of lots of fun. This time of year is just it's I always say, it's kind of magical. So and the weather's been great, I cannot complain. Now, yesterday was a little a little warm. It got to sixty four, so we were out for
about two and a half hours, three hours. We were just all we were doing was serve pro Leaves us a set of their equipment, which is so nice of them, and we were just constantly shoving water and and somebody else was kind of sucking it up and we made it. Some kids got wet. If you fail, you got a little wet. But it was I mean the ice was nice, I mean it was beautiful, so just a little on the wet side, but I don't have to worry about that. The rest of the week. It will be nice and
chili as it should be. It is the end of December. You're at an ice rink, so it should be kind of kind of chili. Just put on your winter coat, don't show up in your shorts. Teenagers, And that happened. Oh lord, Yes, it's like the colder it gets some more shorts, you see. And then in the summertime. I just don't understand. Then in the summer time you see him walking around with hoodies and sweatpants on. So it's like whatever, it's it's on them. If they want to
get wet and cold, I'm whatever, but it is. You know, it is gonna be a little more chili. So just put on your winter coat and on a hat and bundle them up and come out and have some fun. Like I always say, frosty phone on the ice.
So there we go. Now we've got a lot of things cooking as we head into the new year.
My goodness, we do. We've got you know, the marink will be behind us on like I said, probably January fourth, Saturday, and then then we just have to wait for it to melt, which of course we're hitting the deep freeze. It's just it's time to melt anyhow. But then we'll be back to all our regular chamber programming and events and that kind of thing. We do have a good
one coming up in January. Our Women in Business will get back going January sixteenth, we have Christine Belner and it's going to be on elevating and celebrating your team, how to that camaraderie and just like I said, how to how to elevate and celebrate your team, different ideas and things. So she's such a good speaker and I think she'll be really be a really good program, So
mark your calendars for that. It's at Hillcrest Country Club, and like I said, it's January the sixteenth, it's a Wednesday, and it's just a great time for the women to network, to know each other, make new business contacts. And then we always have, like I said, a speaker of some sort. Sometime it's a professional topic, sometimes it's a more personal topic. This one obviously is more on the professional business side,
but we're looking forward to that. And then we also have on January twenty first, we have speed Networking and that's always a fun event. It's small by design, it's held well, hopefully, hopefully it'll be held at the chamber. I was just thinking about that our conference room that we normally hold all our things in may still be
full of Christmas depending how slowly the rink melts the tree. Yeah, because we can't move everything into the skate hut until we can move you know, it's like Domino setting up and tearing down. The rink has to be gone before we can move the skate hut, which is where we store so much of our things. And so anyhow, at any rate, we will have speed networking somewhere somewhere, and that is just a fun event. I always tell people, if you're more of an introvert, this is a great event.
If you don't like walking into a room full of people. This is smaller by design, and everybody just goes around the room and everybody says they're what I say, elevator speech. Let people know who you are, what you do as a company, what your business is. And by the end of the afternoon, it's from four to five. It's good, a great way to injured day. People are laughing and they're making great contacts or some really good stories. That have come from that, connections that have been made. So
that's a fun event. It's free for our members and we just encourage you have to register. We try to limit it to one per industry. We don't want a room full of the same you know, a bunch of realtors or bankers or you know, all of the same industries, so we try to limit it to one per industry. So that is coming up on January twenty. First.
That started out as a fun little thing. Now it's sort of grown legs. This is why two or three years down the road.
Now, yeah, I don't know my years. I'll go together two, three, four, I'm not sir.
But yeah, do you remember when it started out?
Yeah, it has, and it's it's a popular event. And like I said, it's small, there's usually no more than twenty. So it's it's manageable. It's manageable. You're able to get in and out within that hour. Now sometimes they do linger and but that's you know on them. It's it's that you can get in and out and be home, you know, be done by five. So, like I said, it's a fun wein in your day. So and then we also have on January twenty ninth, which will be
here before we know. At the end of the month months fly by is our hot topic series will kick back up and I should have grabbed what our topic was going to be, and now I can't remember, but it's okay.
It will be a good one we can get that invites people to go to the website and see what's there.
That's right, go to our website Bartlesville dot com. You're so good with that, Bartlesville dot com, and it'll have all our events on their different programming. It's also has really good information if you just kind of want to check out the chamber, you're like, well, I've heard of chambers of commerce, but I don't really know what exactly they do, what's their mission? What you know, what are
they about? And it's a great way to check it out without feeling like somebody's trying to get you to join or anything. We do have about seven hundred and fifty members, and they're anywhere from one person businesses to obviously big corporate businesses, and it just we're representative of
all those businesses. In fact, we're getting ready to kick off, you know, the legislative session in February, and that's when we really step it up as far as communications with our members as watching bills that pertain to business how it can affect them. It's a great little summary and we send out a weekly email kind of summarizes what's happening in the in the state legislature because that's really
what's going to affect your business. And so a lot of things coming up in February in regards to public policy and that kind of thing.
So very good.
Anyhow, that's what's going on in the chamber. Wow, that's a lot.
And you still have to, you know, take that down.
But pray for some warm weather please, just a few sixty degree days, even fifty degree days does wonders and melting.
That would be great. But I got to tell you, you know, hats off to you and your group and all the other sponsors and volunteers. This looks like it's been an a very successful Christmas in the Ville and almost a very successful year for the Chamber on the whole.
It has been. We've had a really good year chamber wise Christmas in the Ville, I mean weather wise, this is the first year I don't think we've we have not we've had no closure is due to weather. Like I said, I think Sunday may not happen, but yeah it did. And but then it's kind of might be snowy. I don't know. But and then it was showing eyes, So I don't know. We'll play about ear. It always changes. It's a week away or almost a week away. Oklahoma,
it's Oklahoma. It may be sixty Sunday, who knows. But uh, yeah, the first year, like I said, that, we have not had to close because of weather and lose a day or two. There's a few days it was a little misty, but people were still out. I mean I was impact. But that's always been nice. Uh, it's been it's been enjoyable. It's not where it's so crowded that you cannot hardly move. Every time I look, I can look it up on
my phone. There's a camera and you know, I can see the rink and it's it's people are just being able to scale and enjoy and have a good time.
So it has been a good season. And it is, like you said, big things because this would not happen without sponsors, and we have I'm not even going to start to name them, but you know, all the usual sprespects, but then some that are just independently owned people company we did and that's fun to see them support, you know, an event like this, and the sponsors have to remember too that it's a it's not just a one day event like so many sponsorships. It is a six weeks
almost six weeks, five and a half week. You know that you're out there, your name's out there, your your every day by lots of people regional and obviously local, and so it's hopefully a win win for our sponsors and best so definitely it's a win for us because, like I said, we couldn't do without sponsors because you never know what the weather is going to be. I mean, if we lose three four days it you know, it can hurt, It can really hurt. Because the rink is
not a inexpensive endeavor to put up. People are amazed when they realize how much goes into that. Plus the lighting just there's a lot of insurance. There's just a lot of things people don't think about. And it's because of our sponsors that sabled all happen.
Cherry Weldon is with you, She is with the greater Barbarabillar Area Chamber of Commerce. Quick question, you got the big book that.
Comes out, Yes, that is. It's at the printer. I'm hoping it comes out at the very end of January, maybe the very first of February. It kind of depends on their schedule. I'm waiting to hear back from them. It went before Christmas, but with the holidays and everything. But yeah, it's got a really pretty cover this year thanks to Kumar Krishnan, who's a great photographer here in town in one of his photos, and it's a great book.
It's a great selling tool for our community. Yeah, and we have people coming in every well, I'll say every day, but people that are moving here, interested in here. We have that resident recruitment program.
And which has been working well.
It's been working very well. And you know, those are the employees we want here working with manufacturers and and you know our big corporations. And it's been fun to see people come in and here where they're coming from. And we use that book obviously back to that to give them. It's a great overview of the community. So we will be delivering those, like I said, probably the very end of January, very first of February, so Chamber of Members be watching for that.
And I will tell you this. Everyone I know who has received one of those books who came in new to town and that about a dozen. I said, it's been worth its weight in gold.
Oh thank you. There's a lot of valuable information in that.
Yeah. I could go on the internet by to get lost and did nothing bad about the internet, no or that, but this puts everything into perspective. We even got little maps and stuff like that, and.
This it's such a fingertips. There's something about hard copy. Maybe it's because I'm old. I don't know. I like my hard copies.
Yeah, so you've got a ways to go. We've got we've got more coming up right here on K one. Sherry, thanks for dropping by. Absolutely Happy new year, Tim Howell, Arnold Moore and Ni Camp You