Gearing up for the Holidays

Thank you to all of the businesses who participated in the downtown Halloween event for trick or treaters on Friday, Oct. 30. The Wilber Czech Museum offered a registry, which included 333 guests to the museum from 16 towns. All Saline C0unty towns were represented. Hats off to Wilber Police Chief Steve Sunday for his presence downtown to keep out “trick or treaters” safe during this event. The Chamber plans to host the fourth annual downtown event in 2016.

Congratulations to the Wilber-Clatonia football team and staff for their fine season on the field. It is a pleasure to watch the talent of the team. Thank you to area businesses for their contributions to KUTT radio advertising of play-by-play action of the Wilber-Clatonia games. We watched the Central City game, via the internet of StrivTV while enjoying the first birthday of our grandddaughter near Cedar Rapids, Iowa, last Friday. Technology! About 1,450 people attended the football game last Friday in Wilber. Good luck to the Wolverines as they meet Columbus Scotus on Friday. Go Big Green!

The Chamber is pleased to add Nick Kovar of Kovar Sales and Service to the business membership list. Gwen Andersen-Beck has also joined the Wilber Chamber as an individual member. These additions bring the Wilber Chamber membership totals to 67 business members and 17 individual memberships. These numbers speak well of the pride found in the Wilber business community.

The Wilber Area Chamber of Commerce will host the 13th annual Hometown Holiday Celebration Dec. 5 and 6 at the Wilber Sokol Hall. Saturday will feature a craft and gift show, a visit from Santa, tree decorating contest, lunch by the Sokols, musical performances, crafts for kids, soup tasting contest, Christmas sweater contest and raffle drawings courtesy of our local merchants. There will be a special kids raffler for boy and girl bikes and BB guns. The event will run from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. On Sunday, plan to attend a Czech dinner theater with a delicious Czech meal provided by the Sokols followed by an afternoon of good Czech entertainment starting at 1 p.m. Everyone is invited to attend this quality event as we celebrate the Christmas season.

Now is the time to decorate your home and business for the holiday as there will be a residential and business Christmas decorating contest in Wilber. Chamber Bucks will be awarded to the prize winners. The winners will be judged after the first full week of December. Watch the paper for more details.

The Chamber of Commerce will again have a special on Chamber Bucks from Dec. 1-18. $25 of Chamber Bucks can be purchased for $20. There is a limit of a $300 purchase per household. This promotion encourages consumers to shop our local Wilber merchants and they also make a great Christmas gift. To purchase Chamber Bucks, see Kay at the Kalkwarf and Smith Law Office.

Chamber representatives Shanon Meyer, Stephanie Krivohlavek and myself attended the UNL Dental Opportunity Fair on Friday, Oct. 23. Almost all of the 120 dental students knew of Wilber because of the Czech Festival. It is easy to sell Wilber as we have fine public schools and a good business district, are located close to Lincoln and have a good cliental base for a dental business. Our booth was one of the busiest ones as we treated prospective dentists to kolace after we visited with them.

Shanon and Stephanie did a very professional and knowledgeable job of teaching students about Wilber. The seed was planted to entice some quality young people into starting a dental business in Wilber. We can only hope the seed grows and flourishes.

Each month the City of Wilber furnishes utility services to an average of 10 newcomers to the town of Wilber. The Chamber ordered special “Welcome to Wilber” bags and area businesses provided gift certificates, business cards, pens, paper, brochures and a book about Wilber to fill those bags. Helping to stuff the “Welcome Bags” were LaVern Aksamit, Doris Ourecky, Mary Keller and Marcia Bergmeyer. The City of Wilber office presents a “Welcome Bag” to newcomers applying for city utility services. We want them to know about the products and services available in Wilber.

Nominations are being accepted for the Zajicek Community Builder award. This award will be announced at the Chamber Christmas Party and annual meeting on the evening of Sunday, Dec. 13, along with the election of new officers.

With crops harvested, let us all take some time and truly give thanks as we celebrate the Thanksgiving season.

By Sheryl Kastanek
Wilber Area Chamber of Commerce President

I hope you have a few minutes to enjoy the fall. October’s bright blue skies are some of the prettiest times of the year! With the growing season coming to a close, so will the Thursday Farmer’s Market at the Hotel Wilber patio. Hats off to the great vendors and also the customers who supported the weekly event. We give credit to Chamber board member, Scott Woitalewicz for chairing the event each week of summer. Scott has plans and some new ideas for the 2015 Farmer’s Market, as we anticipate another season of delicious produce, baked goods and crafts.

Nice job to the Wilber-Clatonia sport teams as their hard work has paid off with victories. The Chamber has given financial support to the Wilber Youth Committee sport teams. Maybe those contributions and good volunteer coaches helped to build better sport skills which carried on into high school. You never know when the “seed is planted”.

The Chamber will again sponsor a main street event of Halloween Trick or Treating on Friday, October 31, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. Chamber Treasurer Danni Klasek, will be visiting with the downtown merchants in October as we prepare to treat our area ghosts and goblins.

All chamber business members have the chance to advertise their business on the World Wide Web. I receive many calls about our town and community and smile, as I can tell the caller is following right along with our chamber website, www.wilberchamberofcommerce.com, to see what Wilber has to offer. If a chamber member would like to advertise or update your business site, please email-www.wilberchamber@gmail.com to get proper instruction to enhance, promote, advertise and update your own business. This is a benefit of being a chamber member and should fully be taken advantage of by each chamber member. There is no extra cost for this service. Chamber member, Julie Hensel created the website and with her assistance, chamber board member Steve Ourecky is now chairing the project.

Come One Come All, Let’s Celebrate Fall! The Wilber area Chamber of Commerce would like to invite you to attend a night of dancing at the Wilber Sokol Hall on Friday, November 7, 2014 from 7:30 to 11:30 pm. SwitchBak, a popular band of easy country and light rock will provide for a evening of fun as we give thanks for a great community! The nasty hail storms that hit the Wilber area this summer did not stop the efforts of a fine town working together to repair the damage. Kudos to our local carpenters, lumber yard, window repair business, plumbing and heating businesses, banks, insurance agencies, food service, fuel companies, car repair businesses and medical services as we slowly get back to normal. We hope you are able to join us as we celebrate fall and are grateful for the merchants, customers and residents of a good community.

The Wilber Sokol Hall will again be busy on December 6 and 7 as we host the annual Holiday event for Wilber. Judy Florian is leading a great team of workers as they put together a fun Saturday event and Sue Underwood Placek is filling Sunday with a Czech Theater of entertainment. The Chamber of Commerce will again offer a Christmas special on Chamber Bucks for three weeks in December. These packets make great gifts for anyone. Chamber Bucks can be purchased all year long from the Kalkwarf and Smith Law Office, just ask for Kay.

It is a pleasure to work with the 63 business members and 17 individuals who make up the Wilber Area Chamber of Commerce. Thanks also to those who have provided funds for the new downtown Christmas decorations. We may not have new decorations up for the 2014 Christmas season, but we promise them for 2015. Hope to see you at the Celebrate Fall dance on Friday, November 7, 2014.

Cooler mornings and the changing colors of leaves tell us summer is coming to a close. What a summer! One of the nastiest hail storms Wilber has ever seen, a week of horribly hot weather, some of the nicest rains we have ever endured during the summer and great weather for the Czech festival. 2014 has been quite a year.

All chamber business members have the chance to advertise their business on the World Wide Web. The website of the chamber, www.wilberchamberofcommerce.com receives many inquiries and questions each month. If a chamber member would like to update your business site, please email-www.wilberchamber@gmail.com to get proper instruction to enhance and update your own business. This is a benefit of being a chamber member and should be taken advantage of. There is no cost for this service.  With the assistance of Julie Hensel, chamber board member Steve Ourecky is now chairing this project.

On Tuesday, August 12th, 14 members of the Chamber served the annual “Teacher’s Breakfast” to 56 staff members of Wilber-Clatonia Public Schools at Hotel Wilber. This is a great event as we welcome back and wish the staff a good school year. All staff members received a delicious breakfast, a $2.00 Chamber Buck encouraging them to Shop Wilber and a chance at door prizes.

As summer draws to a close, please remember to attend the “Farmer’s Market” on Thursdays from 4:00 to 6:30 pm on the Hotel garden patio. This event will continue into the fall. Some beautiful summer produce, delicious baked goods and crafts can be purchased at a fair price.   There is not a vendor fee to sell your products. It is a fun time of fellowship among vendors and shoppers. Scott Woitalewicz, chamber board member, is the chairman of the event.

Chamber Treasurer, Danni Klasek will again be in charge of the downtown Halloween event on Friday, October 31, 2014 from 4 to 6 p.m. Danni will be visiting with the downtown merchants in October as we prepare to treat our area ghosts and goblins.

Thank you to all the area businesses who have donated funds, to the new Christmas decorations project for downtown Wilber. We haven’t met our financial goal…..Yet!   We are grateful to Nancy and Frank Linhart, LaVern Aksamit and John Kastanek for the Czech merchant signs to perk up the downtown area of Wilber-Czech Capital of the USA.

The Wilber Area Chamber of Commerce will host a Christmas Celebration on the first weekend of December. On Saturday the 6th, the chapter hopes to hold a craft show and visit from Santa. On Sunday the 7th, Sue Underwood Placek will host a Czech theater of good music. Watch for more details regarding this long time event. The Christmas committee will meet after the regular meeting of the Chamber on Tuesday, September 30, 2014. New ideas are welcomed as we enhance this holiday event.

The community of Wilber and the surrounding area has been through a tough summer season because of the June and July hail storms. You cannot come to Wilber without hearing the pounding of hammers as businesses and home owners try to repair the damage from the storm. In honor of this “moving forward” spirit, the Chamber of Commerce will host a “Lemons to Lemonade” dance on Friday, November 7, 2014 at the Wilber Sokol Hall. The band SwitchBak will be playing for the event. Just an evening of fun as our community digs its way out of the mess and climbs to the top.   It is a pleasure to watch our community take the lemons we were given by Mother Nature and make lemonade out of them. Plan for an evening of good music and some fun on Friday, November 7th at the Wilber Sokol Hall.

At this time, the Wilber Area Chamber of Commerce consists of 62 business members and 17 individual members. A hard working group of people dedicated in their mission to keep the Wilber community strong.   It is a pleasure to work with a good team of fine people.