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.

With the 2014 Wilber Czech Festival just completed, we must truly give thanks to the many people who help to make the festival a success. The Wilber Czech Festival is the largest ethnic festival in the Midwest, hosted by a town of 1855 habitants, all volunteers to keep our community strong. No one receives a paycheck for this endeavor, but we all reap the benefits of a fine, small town. An unbelievable, amazing feat for any community. The good folks of Wilber would not let the nasty summer hail storms hamper the ability to get repaired and spruced up as we prepared for the thousands of visitors to our town. This “moving forward attitude”, speaks loudly of the quality folks who make up the town of Wilber.

The Wilber Chamber of Commerce is made up of 60 business members and 17 individual members. People working together for the benefit of our local businesses. Hats off to the many merchants who sold tickets for the vehicle raffle. Your efforts are needed and appreciated to complete the task. Past president, Brian Florian, was chairman of the care of the Jeep during the summer, with the assistance of Vice president, John Brickner during the festival.

Congratulations to Jerry Sydow of Hudson, Colorado who won the 2014 Jeep Cherokee. Mr. Sydow learned of the car raffle through friends, former Wilberite, Connie (Zumpfe) and Rick Buckmaster, also of Hudson. Mr. Sydow has purchased tickets for the past six years as he thought it was a great raffle idea. Nine other tickets were drawn and they each received $100.00. We are grateful to the other 340 individuals who supported the raffle by purchasing a ticket. The last ticket for the jeep was sold at 11:10 a.m. Saturday morning of the festival. Discussion will take place later this year to choose the most worthwhile community project for the funds earned with the raffle. Ideas are shared at monthly meetings with the group voting on the final project.

Winners of the Window Decorating contest, sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, for the 53rd annual Czech Festival were: 1st Place-Victoria’s Garden, $50.00 in Chamber Bucks, 2nd Place-Wilber Czech Craft Shop, $30.00 in Chamber Bucks and 3rd Place-Western United Mutual Insurance Co.-$20.00 in Chamber Bucks. All winners received ribbons, designed by Jo Brickner, for this honor. Thank you to all businesses that dolled up their window for the festival. The Wilber Czech Royalty judged the contest.

The Teacher’s Breakfast will be held on Tuesday, August 12, from 7 to 8 am at Hotel Wilber. This is a fun event to welcome and honor the teachers and staff of Wilber-Clatonia Public Schools and kick off a good year of education at District 82. Staff members attending will each receive a $2.00 chamber buck and their name will be put in a raffle drawing for local gifts.

For some great produce, baking, and crafts, don’t forget to stop at the Hotel Wilber Patio Garden from 4 to 6:30 pm on Thursdays. Board member, Scott Woitalewicz does a fine job of hosting this event and there is not a charge to be a vendor.

With the amazing response to last’s years Halloween event, the chamber will again host the downtown project. Chamber Treasurer, Danni Klasek is the chairman of the event and will be contacting local merchants in October.

The Chamber would like to honor the dedicated spirit of the community after a nasty June hail storm, with a dance to be held on Friday, November 7, at the Wilber Sokol Hall. Please watch for more details regarding this special event.

Please keep vice-president, John Brickner and his wife Jo in your thoughts and prayers as they lost their son Neal in July. A mason by trade, Neal, helped his dad with the masonry work for the four Wilber welcome signs. Neal was very proud of his work on this worthy Chamber project that greets all visitors coming into our town. We are also sorry for the losses of Norman Blaha and Gwen Anthony, long time Chamber members.

With 60 businesses making up the Wilber Chamber of Commerce, please shop locally. We have some very fine merchants in our town and their customer service is awesome!

Best wishes,
Sheryl Kastanek

Thank you to the Wilber Care Center employees, guests and volunteers who helped contribute to the success of the Independence Celebration on July 2nd. A lovely evening of fellowship and fun as we honored the birth of our Nation. The Care Center kitchen staff prepared a delicious picnic supper with Chamber volunteers, John & Jo Brickner, Brian & Judy Florian, Wanda Rademacher, Sue Underwood, Karen Sebek, LaVern Aksamit, Twila Wanek, Mary Keller, Danni Klasek and Bill and Sheryl Kastanek helping to serve over 425 meals. Musical entertainment included polka music provided by the Czechland Trio, following by a grand stand, husband and wife team, “American Pie”, providing country and rock & roll classics as a salute to the USA. Bingo, games for kids, a bake sale and our local clown, made for a welcomed evening for everyone. An excellent fireworks show completed the evening. Kudos to administration, directors and staff of the Wilber Care Center for their extra efforts to enhance a evening of family fun, Barb Dreyer, Barb Nelson, Michele Vana, Jamie Siems, Brandy Garrison, Pam Schuerman, Cindy Zajicek, Rania Hagemeier, Randy Homolka and Chamber member, Randy Kozeal. Special thanks to Care Center board members, Joyce Wusk, Scott Albert, Steph Hroch, Chris Linhart and Mike Barrett for understanding the need to keep the facility a vital link to our Wilber Chamber of Commerce community.

I hope you have all had the chance to get a peek at the 2014 Jeep Cherokee on the Wilber Body Shop car lot at 3rd and Harris Streets. This deep cherry red vehicle will be raffled off on August 3, 2014 at 6:00 pm. Only 350 tickets will be sold for this prize. The first drawn ticket will win the Jeep with nine other tickets drawn for $100.00 each. While many fine Chamber members help with the ticket sales for this fund raiser, special thanks must be given to Cindy Pulliam for registering each one of the 350 tickets sold. During a hectic festival weekend, Cindy is busy at a computer, meeting the requirements of the State of Nebraska gaming commission. Since the inception of the “Vehicle Raffle”, this fund raising project has generated almost $100,000.00 for the benefit of the town of Wilber. The Wilber Fire Department, Wilber Swimming Pool, street lights for Main Street, downtown murals, Wilber youth sport programs and facilities, downtown beautification, flags, banners, benches, trash cans and cigarette containers and the four Wilber welcome signs were all made possible from the income of the vehicle raffle. What a great investment to enhance our town with a purchase of a $100.00 ticket and have a chance to win a vehicle. If interested in helping Wilber, please purchase a ticket shortly as sales have been good.

During these hot summer days, take some time to check out our newly vamped Wilber Chamber of Commerce website, http://www.wilberchamberofcommerce.com/. Our website has an all-new look and feel with added benefits for members, resources for the community, relocation information and tourist travel to Wilber. Julie Hensel, a 2005 graduate of Wilber-Clatonia High School, has created, updated and launched a new website for the Wilber Chamber and the Nebraska Czechs of Wilber. Chamber business members are encouraged to include the address, phone number, email address, website and social media pages in your listing. We are all learning and growing with this promotion dedicated to the success of our chamber members by providing advertising opportunity on the world wide web at no extra cost to our chamber merchants. Please watch for further updates to enhance your business by being a member of the Wilber Chamber of Commerce. The Wilber Chamber of Commerce is dedicated to the mission of keeping our downtown merchants strong.

Please be watching for the “Christmas in July” fundraiser. The Wilber Chamber of Commerce would like to update the downtown Christmas decoration on the main street of Wilber. Long time community supporters Nancy and Frank Linhart, came up with a great idea to enhance downtown Wilber all year long. Beautiful, hand crafted Czech signs will be offered to all local merchants by the Chamber. With the help of LaVern Aksamit and local Czech language expert John Kastanek, the Linharts donated their time to handcraft signs to be placed in the windows of downtown businesses. A professional artist was hired by the Chamber to paint the signs. Donations received from our merchants will be used to purchase new downtown Christmas decorations.

Wishing each of you a safe, happy and successful Czech Festival weekend.

As always,
Sheryl Kastanek

Wow! What a nasty hail storm hit Wilber on June 3, 2014. At our farm, 12 minutes of golf ball sized hail destroyed a fall crop. We must all be thankful for no loss of life or any serious health injury due to the storm. Now, the jobs of clean up and repair has begin. Thanks goes out to Sack Lumber for opening their doors after the storm for necessary supplies needed to cover broken windows. Area car body and window repair businesses, now look like parking lots for vehicles to be repaired. Mother Nature was sassy, but we will survive! Hats off to neighbors, friends and residents of Wilber, who worked together to repair and clean up neighborhoods. Check with our local construction businesses for hail storm damage repair. I have heard welcomed reports of our local youth traveling from yard to yard, to rake up downed branches and leaves on piles, to help out Wilber residents at no charge. We didn’t need this mess, but the efforts of neighbors and friends working together in a disaster situation is uplifting. We are blessed with a fine community of caring folks.

What is happening with the Chamber? On June7th, 2014 the Alumni Banquet was held at the Wilber Sokol Hall. The Chamber provides a $2.00 Chamber Buck to each banquet guest. “Shop Wilber”. A well done event with delicious food. Past Chamber of Commerce member, Dr. Robert Travnicek was the Master of Ceremony for the evening. Former Wilber-Clatonia band instructor, Russel Workman of Lincoln, received the 2014 Wall of Fame honor, for his eight years of service to District 82. During his 8 year tenure at WC schools, the band grew from 18 members to over 90 band members, the Disney Band trips were started and the “Soup and Song” music fundraiser was created. Mr. Workman is the director of the Wilber-Clatonia Alumni Marching Band.

Don’t forget to bring your friends and neighbors and enjoy a picnic lunch and an evening of entertainment at the Wilber Care Center on Wednesday, July 2, 2014 as we celebrate the birth of the USA. The Wilber Care Center hosts this event and the Chamber of commerce donates funds to the Care Center to be used for the special “American Pie” grand stand performance and the fireworks show. This event will begin with the serving of a free picnic lunch starting at 6:30 with polka music by the Czechland Trio. Games for the children, bingo, a bounce house and a cake walk will be going on at this time also. At 8:30, “American Pie”, a 50’s & 60’s, patriotic and country music grand stand entertainers will perform and at dark the evening will be completed with a fine display of fireworks. Bring your lawn chairs and mark your calendar for a nice evening of fun in Wilber.

For some garden fresh produce, stop by the Hotel Wilber Patio every Thursday, from 4:00 to 6:30 pm. A vendor fee is not charged.

A lucky winner will leave Wilber on Sunday night, August 3, 2014, driving a 2014, red, Jeep Cherokee. This vehicle is worth $25,979.00. The Wilber Chamber of Commerce sponsors a vehicle raffle in conjunction with the Wilber Czech Festival. Only 350 tickets are sold for this raffle. The first ticket drawn for this event receives a vehicle, with nine other tickets drawn, each receiving $100.00. Since the late 1990’s, the Chamber of Commerce Raffle has given nearly $100,000.00 for various projects dedicated to the improvement of Wilber. Brenda Watson, is the funds utilization officer for this project and Brad Kalkwarf, provides legal counsel and guidance to meet the State of Nebraska, Gaming Commission regulations. Thank you to all chamber members who help with selling tickets for this worthwhile event.

The Wilber Chamber of Commerce consists of 52 business members and 18 individuals members. Please “Shop Wilber” as we work together to keep Wilber strong. Remember active Chamber member, Twila Wanek as we offer sympathy to her in the loss of Gene Wanek. We personally offer sincere thanks to this fine group of caring Chamber members, who offered us condolences in the recent loss of my mom, Shirley Kohout. Those desirable traits and ethics only confirm what a fine community Wilber is.

As always,

Sheryl Kastanek