Chamber moving into Keystone

McCOOK, Neb. — After five years of being at its current location on West 2nd and “B” Streets, the McCook Chamber of Commerce will be moving back to the Keystone Business Center. This time they will be on the third floor, sharing the floor with the McCook Economic Development Corp., Red Willow County Tourism, and the McCook Community Foundation Fund staff.

According to Chamber Director Dawson Brunswick, the move will allow all of the organizations to “be more cohesive in working towards a better McCook.” A tentative move-in date is November 1st, although Brunswick was uncertain whether that would be “do-able” or not.

Gearing up for the biggest retail shopping season of the year, the chamber has begun work on the 2019 Christmas promotion. The promotion will follow previous years’ design, allowing shoppers to receive a scratch-card with purchase from participating merchants’ businesses. Shoppers can win prizes, with one grand-prize-winner receiving a chamber shopping spree. Even the “not-a-winner” cardholders will have a second chance at winning something.

The promotion will run from Thanksgiving Day until December 20. Each morning during the promotion, the chamber will be doing daily “on location” live Facebook feeds between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m., giving sponsors the opportunity to talk about their businesses, introduce employees, and showcase the products and services that they offer. There will be a daily drawing during the live feed from the “second-chance” entries, with the lucky winner receiving a $50 gift card from the featured business. The deadline for businesses to sign up is November 2.

Separate chamber sponsorship opportunities for businesses during the Christmas season include “Santa Claus Lane”, “Merry Christmas from McCook”, and “Santa” sponsorships. “Merry Christmas from McCook” was a new event last year, where chamber volunteers and the McCook City Fire Department staff handed out goody bags to travelers through “B” Street on Christmas Eve.

Brunswick also reported that Heritage Days went really well, with the chamber ending up “in the black” for the event. Brunswick said that there were several local businesses that pitched in to help out financially on Heritage Days. Those businesses include, MNB Bank, Community Hospital, Pinnacle Bank, Wagner Auto Group, VK Electronics, First Central Bank, and Horizon Bank. “They made Heritage Days possible this year,” Brunswick said.

Brunswick said that the Young Professionals Group is in the process of rebranding. YPG is functioning as a committee of the chamber. Going forward, the group will be focusing on engaging the business community with high school students to build exposure for the businesses. They want to let students know that opportunities exist in Southwest Nebraska, in terms of both shopping and employment.

The chamber is also exploring Grow with Google, a program that Google runs to help non-profit community organizations grow their digital presence on Google. Google provides resources such as workshops and webinars, sharing best practices for using Google tools to bolster the organization’s online presence.