News & Events from the Brookfield Area Chamber of Commerce... A Great Place to Land!

Brookfield, Missouri - “A Great Place to Land!”

November, 2007
"Chamber Chatter"

Hello & Happy Thanksgiving from the Brookfield Chamber of Commerce. I hope your Thanksgiving meal will be as good as mine. The women in my family are all really good cooks, so it’s always a holiday to look forward to…Oh, and it’s really nice to have the whole family get together, too. Gosh, I made it sound like it was all about the food!!!

I have promised to bring you new thoughts & ideas in our “Shop Local” quest. But, I first want to remind you that every business, store, & merchant in Brookfield needs your business. The new stores & the old stores…the big & the small stores…The way we get new business is by showing how we treat our already existing ones. And we all know what that means…keeping our business local!!!

Speaking of “Shopping Local”…..lets talk Brookfield Bucks!!! What an easy way to do your shopping…It was started four years ago as a Chamber “Shop Local” campaign…a way to keep people shopping in Brookfield. The Brookfield R-3 School system and the City of Brookfield were the very first to give Brookfield Bucks for their Christmas Bonus’s…they saw the value in supporting the same community that supported them. Then Brookfield Fabricating & Pershing Hospital joined the honored ranks, along with dozens of individuals who care about seeing Brookfield grow and prosper. The Elk’s Lodge even added them to their Christmas Baskets. Although Brookfield Bucks can be used and purchased all year long, Christmas is the busiest time. They don’t have an expiration date and virtually every business in Brookfield will take them…..use them just like a gift certificate that works for the entire town!!! They can be bought at the Chamber office with no additional expense to the buyer, shopper or the merchant.

After mentioning the start up of Welcome Wagon bags in last months Chamber Chatter, we got a new Welcome Wagon volunteer, Joyce Rulon… and nine businesses added to the bag of goodies. Citizens Bank & Trust, Sloan Eyecare, Doctor Pitts, McDonalds, Hometown Hardware, 1st Mo. National Bank, Linn County Leader, Tooey’s for Men & Women & the YMCA. We thank Joyce & the donors for making this a reality. What a nice gift to those people moving to Brookfield.

Holiday Open House at the Chamber last Friday was a lot of fun and the cookies & coffee were donated by McDonalds. If you didn’t stop by because you thought I had made the cookies, mark your calendar for next year, because trust me…they don’t ever let me make the cookies!!! From my office I could see that Brookfield Flower Shoppe & Tooey’s were having a really good kick off to the shopping season.

October kicked off our 1st Chamber lunch. (When a Step Back in Time closed, we lost our cook and location.) The Chamber lunch is now held every 3rd Wednesday @ noon at the Fire Station Community Room. Our caterer is Donna Schweikert and we always try to have interesting speakers. The lunch falls on the same day Chamber Chatter comes out, so I have to watch how I word this. Todays speaker was Brandi Maberry from the Chillicothe Women’s Shelter. This organization helps battered women and their children have a safe place while getting indoctrinated back into the world. December 19th will be the next luncheon with Empire District Gas speaking on being more energy efficient. (I don’t want to miss that one!!!)

We had a Ribbon Cutting at “The Bookstore of Brookfield” last Thursday. What really nice people Calvin & Rhonda Uptain are, and what a great looking store. Of course it is full of books, but they have made it comfortable, to just sit and leaf through the books and have a cup of coffee. If you haven’t read a book in a while, all you have to do is start talking with Calvin and you’ll be at it again. They are located at 112 North Main Street and have extended hours. Their # is 258-7800. By all means, stop by and welcome them to Brookfield…they moved here about a year ago from Colorado.

We now have more engraved bricks of the DeGraw Theatre available. They are $50 and make unique Christmas gifts. These are actual bricks rescued from the theatre, and a part of our Brookfield history. The sale of these bricks and the DeGraw Theatre pen & Ink drawings by Wendy O’Toole can be purchased at the Chamber Office. The monies from the sale of these bricks & prints have been used to beautify Brookfield with flower pots and flowers & the new summer banners.

One more thing & I will get to the coming events…ok, 2 more things!!! In case you miss reading Chamber Chatter in the paper, you can find it on the Chamber’s website. You can also find information on all the local events there…..We will be having a picture event soon when Walmart presents the Chamber with grant monies of $2500 to assist in the revamping of the Christmas Decorations. Thank you so much. (This is just the boost we needed to get this fundraising project off the ground.)

The Annual Holiday Parade is Friday, November 30th @ 5pm starting at Trinity Methodist, around the statue and back. There will be marching bands & Santa & floats & queens & Santa & new cars & little fire trucks, probably a politician or 2 & did I mention Santa??? Line up is @ 4:30 and all are welcome to participate. The more the merrier!!! Parks & Rec will end the parade with the annual lighting of the Parks & Christmas Tree. Make sure you bring the kids to the east Twin Park right after the lighting ceremony where Santa will join us at the Gazebo to hear all those Christmas wishes and hand out candy to the kiddies. (Cameras are welcome). Saturday, December 1st, Beta Sigma Phi will be hosting “Santa House” from 10am-2pm at the Catholic school. There will be face painting, candy cane walk, cookie decorating and lots more Christmas fun for the kiddies. Friday, December 7th the YMCA will host its Annual Benefit Auction & Chili Dinner at the Elk’s Ballroom. This is their biggest fundraiser of the year with the Dinner/Silent Auction from 5:30/7:00pm & Oral Auction to start at 7:30 pm. Come and shop for lots of great Christmas presents, decorations, baskets, and gift certificates, all donated by area merchants and people. The dinner tickets are $5.00 in advance or $6.00 at the door. Children under 12 only $3.00. Everyone is invited!!! Karen Grant with Parks & Rec will be hosting a Christmas Candy Land at the Twin parks, (I’m guessing on this date) Saturday, December 8th. Please call her office to verify @ 258-5644. It was a really great event for the kids last year.

Gosh…I really went over my space and still had more to tell you about. If you should have a question on anything that’s going on, please feel free to call the chamber office @ 258-7255 or e-mail chamber@brookfieldmochamber.com. The Chamber is here to assist in bettering our community in any way we can by offering information about our area, welcoming new businesses and families, hosting special events to attract visitors and enhance shopping.

Till next month…Give Thanks for what we do have, “Shop Local” & keep reading “CHAMBER CHATTER”!!!

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