This month I’d like to update our finishing plans for the Southtown addition and share some other projects that are in the works as well. These projects stand to change the landscape in the Southtown area for many years to come.
As we begin the year of 2017, my prayer is that we, as a community, continue to grow and embrace the opportunities that we have along with looking for new ways to make Huron the best community it can be. At the Huron Chamber & Visitors Bureau our mission is to “Serve our members by strengthening business, supporting visitors and enhancing community”.
If you are a business owner and a member of the Huron Chamber, are you utilizing your membership to the fullest? Are you taking advantage of the advertising opportunities with our e-mail blasts and Prairie Tracks and our poster route? Are you utilizing our partnership with the Small Business Administration for consultations regarding your business or to discuss new business ideas? Networking is a buzz word that we often hear, but are you making the most of the opportunities presented to you? Chamber Mixers are a great way to get to know others in the business community. When attending, make the effort to talk to the other attendees and let them know what you do, bring up that sale you are having or the event you are putting on. You may also find attending one of our luncheons is not only informational and educational, but another opportunity to connect. You may also consider becoming involved on a chamber committee or other committees or in service groups. Being a volunteer will not only help our community but can help your business as well. If you’re not a Chamber member, does the information above sound worthwhile to you? We’d love to visit with both current and future members to further enhance and strengthen your business.
When events, conventions and tournaments are hosted in Huron we provide visitor packets to attendees so they know what Huron has to offer in the way of attractions and points of interest along with services and retail options. This could also be an opportunity to bring visitors in your doors. The Chamber works with the host of the convention or event to see what other services they may need and do our best to be a resource to them. The economic impact of having these events, conventions & tournaments in Huron is tremendous and we do our best to make sure their experience is a great one and those attending will want to come back.
Lastly, I would like to ask your help in making this community the best that it can be. It takes all of us to make a difference. I am so proud of the 2016-2017 Leadership Huron Class for their Acts of Kindness mission this year. If we all embrace their mission, great things that can happen here! “We Are Huron” and together we can make a difference!
NOVEMBER! What a month it has been to be Thankful!
We are thankful for the years of support and guidance that we benefited from Dr. Karl Blessinger; who was currently serving as Vice President of the Huron Chamber & Visitors Bureau before he passed away. He was truly a civic minded person who knew the meaning of serving. He will be missed.
Here at the Chamber we hosted our biggest event of the year, The Ringneck Festival and Bird Dog Challenge, November 3-5. We had 27 six-man teams representing 19 different states in the competition hunt along with 64 two-man teams for the Bird Dog Challenge. We are forever grateful to our landowners who graciously donate their land for our hunt, the many volunteers who make up our committee and scorekeepers for both events, plus the sponsors who give monetarily to make this event happen. We cannot express enough how thankful we are.
The 2016 election is here and gone, making this one of the most controversial presidential elections ever. Thankfully here at home our senator and representatives were elected in a more peaceful manner. Congratulations to Senator Jim White on his re-election to the SD State Senate and to our newly elected District 22 Representatives, Bob Glanzer and Roger Chase. Our thanks also goes out to the other candidates; Eric Bliss, Carmen Dannenbring and Joan Wollschlager. Choosing to serve our state and district is a commitment that all six made to us as citizens. The 15th Amendment gave us the right to vote and these civic minded citizens allowed us a choice in that process.
Then came Veteran’s Day, a time to thank and remember those who have served our country, some giving the ultimate sacrifice.
The deployment of the 153rd Engineer Battalion and Forward Support Company of the US Army National Guard, what can we say about this except to extend a great big THANK YOU to our neighbors, friends, family and co-workers who have left to protect the freedom’s that we all enjoy because of living in this great country. Please pray that they may return safely. Let us work together to support their families during their absence.
Huron played host to the State Girl’s B Volleyball tournament this month as well, bringing in eight teams and their fans from across the state. We are thankful that we can continue to be part of the SD High School Activities roster to host tournaments. These events have a huge economic impact on our community. Thank you for making all of our visitors feel welcome!
As we move into the Christmas Holiday Season, remember to shop local whenever possible and enter into our Shop Huron and “WIN”ter Fest promotion!! Remember those less fortunate and be kind to one another!
“We Are Huron”
-Laurie Shelton, Huron Chamber & Visitors Bureau, President/CEO
For my column this month, I’d like to talk more about our current housing issues and some of our plans to hopefully provide some relief to the problem. As many of you know by now, we were very excited when Dakota Provisions informed us late last month of their plans to expand their ready-to-eat portion of their operations right here in Huron. This is roughly a $30 million expansion and will likely create approximately 200- 250 new jobs over the course of the next several years.
We have known now for at least the last five years that a significant effort is needed to be put forth by the community in the housing arena, not only to accommodate Huron’s growth, but to provide housing choices for all new employees moving to town. We simply need more of everything, from single family homes to multi-family complexes, for both sale or for rent. Unfortunately, the pace of home or apartment construction just simply has not caught up with demand.
In an effort to address this critical shortage and as part of our commitment to Dakota Provisions our community needs to be prepared to provide 140-150 new housing units by the end of 2017. We believe there will be some significant opportunities for those willing to take the chance on building additional units. While we are simply not in a position to provide financing for those looking to take on a building project we would welcome the opportunity to sit down with individual contractors or business owners to discuss what we see as areas of opportunities. Again, we need more of everything in a very short time so it’s wide open as to what type of housing needs to be built.
We have a lot of work to do in this community to be ready by the end of next year, but through working together I am confident that we will get this job done.
When I write you again in December, we will hopefully have more good news to share on our other projects such as the Southtown Development. Until then I hope everyone has a wonderful fall. For those who will be participating in the hunting season, we wish you the very best luck and remind you to stay safe while handling your firearms.
-Jim Borszich, GHDC President/CEO
Bring on fall! When the weather starts to cool and children are back to school we know that we can soon enjoy feeling the crispness in the air, leaves crackling underfoot, the smell of cinnamon and spice as the pumpkin desserts abound. It is also HUNTING SEASON! Where in addition to orange colored pumpkins and leaves falling from the trees, the orange comes out in full force as we host family, friends and visitors to hunt Huron. Huron is known for the hometown hospitality that we extend to our guests. We hear it over and over again from visitors that call or stop into the Huron Chamber & Visitors Bureau. So, thank you to our businesses and citizens for helping to make our visitors welcome.
It is common knowledge that hunting is a great boost to our local and state economy. In 2015, Beadle County was ranked 6th out of the 66 counties in the state by the SD Game Fish & Parks upland game harvest survey. 5.7 million dollars was spent by non-resident hunters this past year in Beadle County coming from an estimated 3,438 hunters. The non-resident hunter spent on average $1,658 per hunter and harvested 28,576 birds. Those are some phenomenal numbers for the 11 week hunting season. It is also estimated that there are 2,168 local hunters that spent an additional million dollars during the pheasant hunting season. Statewide the total estimated in spending for nonresident and resident was $170.1 million and 150,037 hunters.
I did a little more research to see what Beadle Counties taxable sales in the transportation, retail and services industries were for that 11 week time period. Those are the categories that the hunting dollars would normally be included in. The taxable sales for the 11 weeks in October, November and December were $56,907,713.00. If hunters spent 6.7 million dollars than that equates to 11.77% of the taxable sales coming from hunting dollars, again reiterating the impact that hunting has in our community and our state.
Let’s roll out the orange carpet! Paint the town orange and bring on Rooster Rush activities and hunting season! Let’s support our local business owners by shopping local and keep our Huron economy growing stronger and stronger. We Are Huron! We hunt, we play, we support, we shop!
Thanks to you all for your support of the Huron
Chamber & Visitors Bureau!
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