Coon Valley Business Association Meeting
October 1st, 2018 held at the Skybox.
Geoff Lenser called the meeting to order at 5:15. Geoff gave the treasurers report- general fund checking has $3452.20 and Bingo checking has $5861.43.
We quickly recapped Trout Fest. Next year’s date is July 27th. Frank Mathison reported that the Legion will do the pancake breakfast again. We also discussed the band options for next year. The Couleegans gave us a price of $800 to be our evening band. We also discussed asking the Driftless River band and possibly Dan Sebranek to fill the late morning and afternoon. Jim Schmidt reported that the bingo cards did not survive the flood, but there is a possibility of borrowing some from other organizations.
Geoff reported that the association has contracted some radio ads to run this month to let everyone know that Coon Valley is open for business and hopefully bring people back. Ads will mention businesses and events in town. Some of the events are the Vintage Market October 12 & 13 at the hall, Bingo on October 19th at the hall, the Zombie Crawl and the Legion Chicken Q at the Village Hall on Veterans Day.
Geoff suggested the group organize a community event to be held sometime in January or February at the Legion hall. Each business would bring a crock pot of soup. The meal would be free to the community. The Legion would have the bar open and use that as a way to recoup some revenue. This would be a chance for people to come together and discuss the flood and recovery. It was also suggested that we make this an annual event eventually charging for food and using that money to create an emergency fund for helping the community or individuals after a disaster.
Geoff also suggested possibly raising dues and using the extra to create an advertising budget. Dues are currently $50. He suggested raising it to $120. This can be discussed more at the next meeting.
Bingo is October 19th. Steve Schulte and Paul Lewison are making the food. Steve suggested that, for this bingo occasion, we do a goodwill donation for food instead of charging. He is also donating dessert. The Coon Valley Dairy Supply is donating water.
The Coon Valley Dairy Supply took part in the Octoberfest parade this year, their float supported Coon Valley and the businesses. Beth suggested that we think about having an entry in future parades. Other area small towns were represented.
We discussed creating committees for the various parts of Trout Fest planning. This will be discussed at the next couple meetings.
The next meeting is November 5th at the Skybox. Just a reminder, any business can volunteer to hold a meeting. The December meeting is the 3rd.
A motion to adjourn was made by Carol Olson and seconded by Geoff Lenser. The motion carried.
Karla Lewison
Secretary