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Emporia Main Street Calendar of Events |  |
October 19
Board of Directors Meeting
8:00 a.m. at the Emporia Main Street office.
October 26 Business Enhancement Committee Meeting 8:00 a.m. at the Emporia Main Street office
Home Based Business Meeting Noon at the Emporia Main Street office.
October 27
Emporia Main Street Public Improvement Auction
October 28 Haunted Tours 9:00 p.m. at the Granada Theatre November 2 Emporia Main Street Board Meeting 8:00 a.m. in the Emporia Main Street Office
November 5th
Freedom Run and Ride
9:30 a.m. at Soden's Grove. November 9 Promotions Committee Meeting 8:00 a.m. in the Emporia Main Street office. Design Committee Meeting noon in the Emporia Main Street office.
November 16
Emporia Main Street Board Meeting
8:00 a.m. in the Emporia Main Street office.
November 30
All Committee Meeting
8:00 a.m. in the Emporia Main Street office
January 7th
Granada Bridal and Prom Expo
noon in the Granada Theatre.
Do you have an upcoming event for your business or organization? Let Emporia Main Street know and we may include it on our upcoming calendars!
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| General Level Members | |
AKA Marketing/The Sports Fan
Amanda's Bakery
Applebee's
Ash, LLC.
Atherton & Huth Attorney at Law
Barden & Thompson
Bath Expressions
Bennett Dental Group
Best Western Hospitality House
Black Heart Cherry
Brown's Shoe Fit Co.
C & J Woodworks
Cable One
Cable One Advertising
Capitol Federal
Cassell Insurance
Chester Press, Inc.
Clark Carpet & Tile
Coffelt Sign Co.
Commercial Street Diner
Complete Works
Country Mart/Price Chopper
Dan's Hands
Dorsey & Wise Family Eye Care
Douglas Chiropractic Center
Dynamic Disks
Emporia Chamber of Commerce
Emporia State Federal Credit Union
ESU Memorial Union
E-Town Solutions
First Community Bank
Flint Hills Eye Care Associates
Flint Hills Lanes
Flint Hills Music
Flint Hills Tech College
Flint Hills Mall
Forget Me Not Productions
Four Seasons Apartments
Furniture Loft
Genesis Health Club
George Groh & Sons
Gerald Schumann Electric
Glendo
Granada Coffee Company
Granada Plaza & Lofts
Graves Drug Store
Hair Krafters
Helbert & Allemang Attorney's at Law
High Gear Cyclery
Hornet Residential
IM Design Group
Java Cat 5
Jimmy John's
Kansas Radio 96.1 The Wave
KISS 103.1
Krueger & Williams Law Office
L & L Pets
Little Caesers Pizza
Lyon County State Bank
Lyon County Title
Marion National Bank
Mark II Lumber
Mathis Physical Therapy
McDonald's on 6th Ave.
McKinzie Pest Control
Menu Foods Midwest Corp.
Midas Touch Golden Tans
Modern Air Conditioning
Muckenthaler, Inc.
Nature's Paradise
Navrat's Office Products
Pizza Ranch
Plum Bazaar
Poehler Mercantile
Pool & Wright
Prairie Sage Apartments
Prairie Land Partners
Pro Cuts
Pyramid Pizza
Redi Upholstry
Redline Trucking
Ru Yi
Sauder Custom Fabrication
Scheller's Lawn & Landscape
Simmons Pet Food
SS Graham Insurance Agency
Stanley Jewelry
Studio 11
Subway
Sunflower Gymnastics
Symmonds & Symmonds Attorney at Law
The Help Desk
The Henrikson Team
The Medicine Shoppe
The Sweet Granada
The Villiger
The White Rose Inn
Thompson Auto Repair
Toso Appraisal Service
Town Crier Bookstore
Town Royal
Water's True Value
Westar Energy
Wheat State Pizza
Williams Automotive
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| Non-Profit Level Members | |
Big Brothers Big Sisters
Community Theatre of Emporia
Corner House
Emporia Arts Council
Emporia Farmer's Market
Emporia Granada Theatre Alliance
Emporia High School Future Business Leaders of America
Emporia Public Library
ESU Foundation
Small Business Development Center
First Presbyterian Church
Flint Hills Optimists Club
Jayhawk Area Council (Scouts)
Lyon County Historical Society
National Teachers Hall of Fame
Plumb Place
The United Way |
| Home Based Level Members | |
Boyzen Bunny Fiber Arts- Tracey Graham
Energy Innovators
Family Jewels-
Leticia Rust
Gold Canyon Candle- Stephanie Morgan
Green Door Recycling- Amy Becker
Independant Longaberger Consultant- Judith Dieker
Interdependent Web- Ben Stallings
Joe the Furniture Doctor- Joe Kurzen
Kynda Kreative- Amanda Mendoza
Mary Kay- Brenda Braynard
Pampered Chef- Chelsea Gerleman
Patti Cakes- Patti Lipson
Paula's Creations
Paula Roper
Premier Designs Jewelry- Nikki Simmons
RossTography
Mike Ross
Scentsy- Deann Rose
Stampin-Up
Darcy Johnson
Tastefully Simple- Vanessa Apodaca
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| Individual Supporters | |
Anne Strobel
Brad Harzman
Dale and Carolyn Davis
Erin Woods
Julie Johnson
Kayla Oney
Mark & Amy McAnarney
Mary & Tim Helmer
Matt & Val Zimmerman
Pam & Fred Stephenson
Peggy Mast
Rob Gilligan
Sue Blechl
Victoria Partridge |
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Emporia Main Street E- Newsletter |
Greetings!
Wow, what a week! Homecoming, Oktoberfest, 7 Downtown Symposium Awards and A LOT of upcoming activities! Time to kick things into high gear! Keep reading below for all the wonderful stuff coming up for Emporia! |
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Dress up in your favorite 80's gear and Moon Walk down to the Emporia Main Street Public Improvement Auction!
The Silent Auction starts at 5:30 p.m. and the Live Auction starts at 7:00 p.m. Proceeds from the Public Improvement Auction go to support public improvement projects. In past years, the Public Improvement Auction helped provide bike racks, lamp posts in the Farmer's Market Lot, lamp post banners, a "We the People" sculpture in front of the Lyon County Historical Museum, the Historic District project, Downtown Garden improvements and several other community upgrades. Can't make the auction? You can still donate to the Emporia Main Street Public Improvement Fund, housed in the Emporia Community Foundation. Contact Emporia Main Street for details. |
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Flint Hills Optimist Club Pancake feed information
Date - Saturday October 22, 2011
Where - Emporia Presbyterian Church West Campus 1702 W. 15th
Time 7:30am - 10:30am
Price - $5 in advance fromm any Optimist Club member and $6 at the door
Includes - All you can eat pancakes, sausage, orange drink and coffee
Chris Cakes will be flipping up the Cakes |
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Saturday, November 5th at 9:30 a.m.
Soden's Grove
Click HERE for more INFO |
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Thursday, October 20th from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Flint Hills Technical College
Click HERE to learn more! |
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You WON!!!
Results of the Downtown Symposium Awards Ceremony
On Thursday, October 13 in Independence, Kansas, several Emporia Community members joined hundreds of other Kansas citizens in celebration of outstanding efforts to revitalize local communities. Emporia Main Street volunteers won seven awards, second only to Leavenworth (we'll get you next year!), and we are proud to showcase phenomenal examples of what local volunteers, businesses and agencies are doing to improve Emporia. Below are a list of activities conducted in Emporia that were recognized by the Kansas Department of Commerce through the Kansas Main Street program.
Community Award - Kristi Mohn: The Community Award is designed to recognize individuals or entities that have a tremendous positive impact on the local community. Kristi Mohn is a former two term board mem ber for Emporia Main Street, but beyond her service on the board, Kristi helped develop several activities that are important for the promotion of Emporia. The Dirty Kanza, Live in the Lot, Arts Council Activities and several other events can trace their lineage back to Kristi. As a real estate agent, Kristi realizes the importance of Main Street to provide assistance, incentives and information to prospective property buyers/renters as they are looking at various locations. Her recent move into property development as part of a group that purchased the former Crawford Furniture building shows she is "putting her money where her mouth is". At the Dirty Kanza alone, Kristi helped organize the event, rode 190 miles through the Flint Hills (until a split tire ended her race) and she helped with after event activities. Basically, she's the type of person who's work ethic, creativity and commitment to community makes us all feel bad about our slacker lives...
Excellence in Volunteer Development - 20th Anniversary Activities: Emporia Main Street was  founded in 1991, and we have come a LONG way... To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of YOUR organization, we put together historic photo albums through social media that were "liked" and commented on hundreds of times, we contacted former directors, collected original documents, produced "Anniversary" materials and hosted a free 20th Anniversary Annual meeting that produced a fun environment for people to look back and forward. Those familiar with Emporia Main Street's internal logistics will tell you that it is very rare for us to look back into our organizational history. We are much more concerned with current and future activities, but the unique look back produced some important and tangible benefits for the community.
Excellence in Public/Private Partnerships - Multi-Use Path Planning (MUPP): Improper chaining of bike racks to lamp posts, signs and buildings not only was unattractive, but in some cases it caused damage. The Emporia Main Street Public Improvement Auction raised money for downtown bike racks to produce a better option for local bikers. By working with MUPP and the Emporia Engineering Department from the City, we were able to identify locations for racks in the downtown area. Local donors helped off-set rack costs, and a difficult design process was scrapped to insert racks prior to two very large biking events this summer. When paid labor wasn't an option to insert bike racks, local volunteers stepped up to insert racks in designated locations and Fastenall donated materials and tools. The City of Emporia received a tremendous amount of positive PR from the placement of the racks through biking newsletters and on-line magazines, and the participants of the Dirty Kanza and Bike Across Kansas appreciated our bike friendly attitude.
Excellence in Marketing - Weekly Newsletters: The weekly e-news distribution grew from just over 100  recipients at its inception to just under 1,300 in its current form. Many of those new additions joined the weekly e-news list independently, and we have out-of-town prospective businesses, former residents and potential developers that follow the Emporia Main Street e-news either directly or through social media. Emporia Main Street's weekly newsletters are opened at over twice the national average and our "click rate" for internal links also is well above the national average. Several entities replicate parts or all of our e-news, and that distribution helps with a viral marketing campaign that has resulted in outside development interests and recruitment of local entrepreneurs.
Excellence in Architectural Design - Emporia Arts Council Building Project: The over two million dollar Emporia Arts Council Project helps Emporia take one step closer to an eventual Arts and Entertainment District. Project Architect, Steve Bowling of AMAI Architecture is a product of the local area and an author of the Emporia Main Street's Community Initiated Development Plan adopted as an addendum to the City of Emporia Comprehensive Plan. Thus, the Arts Council Building used materials, height and a set back consistent with the plan while utilizing parts of the existing building structures being replaced. The Arts Council should be commended for their use of appropriate design elements and their investment in downtown Emporia. Creating synergy through the creation of business "clusters" can help create a smarter and more profitable Emporia. Emporia Arts Council Executive Director, Melissa Windsor, her staff, the Emporia Arts Council Board, fundraising volunteers and project donors should all be commended for this project.
Excellence in Business Promotion - Midnight Madness: People work differently than they did 30 years ago, but  many promotional events simply haven't kept up with the times. Shalla Bennett of the Promotions Committee suggested a last minute addition to Holiday Activities in the Christmas Season of 2010 that encouraged people to "shop late" and Midnight Madness was born. This event was designed specifically to help cash registers ring, and it DID!!! Some retailers posted the biggest day in their sales history, while others reported 60-300% sales gains, increased traffic and increased sales exposure. Many businesses didn't know what to expect heading into the event (some said "I brought a book so I wouldn't get bored), but most businesses came out absolutely spent after an exceptionally busy night. In the summer, the difficult decision was made to discontinue a declining "Sidewalk Sale" and replace the activity with another Midnight Madness. Some retailers reported that this event was actually BIGGER than the holiday version, and the streets were packed with shoppers. This promotional event is definitely a "keeper".
Excellence in Promotion - Flint Hills Music, Live in the Lot: Whereas "Business Promotion" promotes a specific monetary result, other promotions are designed to tackle the difficult task of "area awareness". Exposing people to an area on a consistent basis creates tomorrow's shoppers, and one of the most effective tools in our arsenal to achieve this type of traffic is Live in the Lot. This Flint Hills Music Activity draws hundreds downtown on a weekly basis to watch as local bands play outdoors or movies sponsored by local businesses are shown on an inflatable screen donated by Cable One. Businesses and organizations set up booths to sell food or other items, while other entities donate "Bingo" items for give away's that entertain the crowd during intermission. The recent addition of beer gardens and other elements have expanded Live in the Lot exponentially. Popularity for the event took a unique turn this year when people actually bought event posters and t-shirts! We congratulate Flint Hills Music on this cool community outreach activity, and thank weekly participants like the Emporia Arts Council for adding family event elements. This event requires a lot of physical labor and planning, but Emporia Main Street is happy to be a part of this wonderful activity!
The recognition we receive from the Kansas Department of Commerce is all about YOU. Your investment in the community, your donation of time, your direction for the Main Street program. Emporia Main Street has a small staff and a meager budget that we stretch to create great impacts via the volunteers that continue to support the Emporia Main Street program. Emporia Main Street members consistently receive some of the highest levels of recognition in the state because of the creativity, work ethic and high expectations you impart on the Emporia Main Street program. Simply put, you expect tangible results from this program, and the awards listed above are just a few examples of those expectations being realized.
Thank you for all you do, and we can't wait to show off Emporia to the rest of the state during the 2012 Downtown Symposium held October 17, 18 and 19 of 2012 in downtown Emporia! |
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Upcoming Business/Community Events
Merchandising
Instructors: Casey Woods, Erin Woods, Angie Baker
Cost: $19
Schedule: Wednesday & Thursday, October 19 & 20, 7:00-8:30 PM
You have seven seconds to make an impression on a customer. What impression do you want to make? In this part lecture, part demonstration class, you'll learn merchandising and design techniques to help draw customers into your store, keep them there longer, and increase sales. From windows to walls to tables and racks, you'll learn how to create an attractive space and comfortable atmosphere, just in time for the holidays!
Holiday Wreath Decorating
Instructor: Paula Roper
Cost: $20
Schedule: Wednesday, October 19, 7:00-8:00 PM
Join professional floral designer Paula Roper in this wreath making class! Each participate will create a small permanent holiday wreath including pine cones and ribbon.
QuickBooks Fundamentals
Instructor: Nicole Mortensen
Cost: $89
Schedule: Tuesday & Wednesday, October 25 & 26, 1:00-5:00p.m.
QuickBooks is designed for the small to midsized business owner who enjoys Quicken's ease of use but prefers a more traditional approach to accounting. Learn how this well-designed program can make it a snap to set up a chart of accounts, reconcile your checking account, create and print invoices, receipts and statements, track your payables, inventory and receivables, create estimates and generate reports.
To enroll please visit http://flinthills.augusoft.net or call 341-1392!
E-TV Ch. 70
Do you miss being able to watch for Real Estate listings, community events and local business ads on your TV? Well starting in October you will once again be able to watch and advertise on E-TV Ch. 70!
E-TV Ch. 70 will offer Emporia a local cable channel to promote and showcase local businesses and events. Special introductory rates through the rest of 2011 will be available so plan to get involved now and find that new outlet for marketing your business.
To find out more information and place your ads contact Rob Gilligan at (620) 342-4841 ext. 232 or email rob@emporiamarketplace.com
Emporia Area Farmers Market
NOW OPEN WEDNESDAYS & SATURDAYS!
Emporia Arts Council Activities Check out what's new with the Emporia Arts Council!
Granada Theatre Events for October
NOW PRE-LEASING FOR
Fall!!!
Four Seasons Apartments has openings for Fall....One, Two and Three Bedroom apartments available.
Three Pools, Covered Parking, 24 Hour Emergency Maintenance, Quiet Hours, Pet Friendly
Call 620-343-7172 to schedule a tour or visit our website at www.rentourspace.com
Four Seasons Apartments, Comfortable Living for All Seasons |
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Did you know? Answers to YOUR questions...
Last week we had our first meeting concerning the "Breakfast with Santa" event at the Emporia Public Library, we met with the Fire Marshall on some different issues, coordinated with ESU Student
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Travis Ison on a hand blown glass Stein trophy for Oktoberfest, met with a couple of entrepreneurs, got ready for a three day Kansas Main Street Downtown Symposium in Independence, attended the Kansas Department of Commerce Downtown Symposium awards banquet with sixteen other Emporians, toured the downtown with three ESU Ambassadors judging downtown window decorations for ESU Homecoming, helped with the first ever Oktoberfest in the Granada Theatre and passed out "specials" maps at the ESU Homecoming Parade. It was a busy week, and I'm glad to be home! As always, we got some great community questions, and below are your answers...
1. "Did you learn anything useful at the conference?" From several people. Always. Acting Kansas Main Street Director Mary Helmer and I have always been on the same page when it comes to conference speakers. Rah, Rah motivation is only helpful when coupled with solid implementation steps to improve businesses, organizations, buildings and the community. Providing free access to national speakers to help make positive business and community changes is just one way we try to enhance the local economy. I learned more about inexpensive building maintenance, new entrepreneurial development strategies to create more local business, better PR techniques, new tools to improve the profitability of local businesses, simple interior and exterior design techniques to improve business traffic and profitability and I always learn a lot from talking with peers. I'll use the next couple of weeks to go through our brainstorming "idea pages" and we'll see what committee members want to tackle!
2. "How did Oktoberfest go?" From an electronic questions. It was a blast! The Granada did a great job, King Liquor was great support and Main Street had a positive impact. We haven't seen final financial numbers yet, but I think this should become an annual lead in for ESU Homecoming. Thank you to all those that attended, and we love that so many people came together to start another fun Emporia tradition! Click HERE for more Oktoberfest Photos.
3. "Was this Homecoming bigger than last years?" From a few people I met on the street at the Homecoming parade. I think so. I know that we had more business participation than in years past, and that participation helps create more public awareness and involvement. This was the first year we did a physical distribution of Parade Entries, the first year for a "Homecoming Specials" map, the first year of a window decorating contest, the first year for the Oktoberfest Homecoming lead in and this year Tyler Curtis, Blythe Eddy and several other ESU Staff and Students made a coordinated effort to reach out to the community to solicit involvement. There is always room for growth, but I think this year helped create a solid foundation for future expansion. Click HERE for pictures from the ESU Homecoming Parade and Window Judging Contest!
4. "How is auction planning coming along?" From a board member. Becky Smith has done a tremendous amount of work on the Public Improvement Auction scheduled for October 27th. Auctions are difficult and time consuming activities that require a LOT of pre-work, donations, bidders and other efforts. The public improvement auction is a great way to produce public improvements for the good of the community without utilizing tax dollars. In the past, the auction has helped create lighting, public sculptures, bike racks, pole banners, incentive building and many other improvements for the Emporia community. Anyone can donate, it is still not too late, and anyone can attend. Do you want to get involved in building a better community? Contact the Emporia Main Street office to get involved.
5. "Can you help me with some customer service training?" From a member business. Sure! Consulting work is something we often do for members. Some people want help building a simple Facebook page, some people want service training, some people want merchandising help... There are a lot of needs, and we are here to help you. As a sustainable business development entity, we believe in helping businesses start out on the right path, helping businesses through their inevitable struggles and giving businesses the tools they need to expand. You aren't in this alone! Lean on your friends at Main Street for help, and we'll do what we can (or at the very least put you in contact with the appropriate resources). I know you aren't just working from 9 to 5, so we don't either. If you need to meet during "off hours", that is OK with me. Simply contact Emporia Main Street and take advantage of local help!
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The volunteers, members and staff of Emporia Main Street are working extremely hard to improve our business climate and build a successful community. In short, we are working hard FOR YOU! We appreciate your support, and we will continue to aggressively pursue opportunities to benefit our membership in the future. Because, as we all know: small steps lead to BIG impacts!
Have a question? Submit it to the Emporia Main Street office and we'll do our best to help you! |
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