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 Emporia Main Street Calendar of Events 

December 15

Horse Drawn Carriage Rides

December 21

Board Meeting

8:00 a.m. in the Emporia Main Street office.

December 22

Horse Drawn Carriage Rides

December 28

Business Enhancement Meeting

8:00 a.m. in the Emporia Main Street office

Home Based Meeting

12:30 p.m. in the Emporia Main Street office.

January 4th

Board Meeting

8:00 a.m. in the Emporia Main Street office.

January 7th

Granada Bridal and Prom Expo

noon in the Granada Theatre.

January 11th

Promotions Meeting

8:00 a.m. in the Emporia Main Street office

Design Meeting

noon in the Emporia Main Street office

January 18th

Board Meeting

8:00 a.m. in the Emporia Main Street office

 January 12-13

Kansas Main Street Quarterly Training- El Dorado

April 1-4

National Main Street Conference- Baltimore, MD

April 13-15

Glass Blown Open Disc Golf Tournament by Dynamic Discs

April 19-20

Kansas Main Street Quarterly Training, Dodge City

April 21

The Taste

Civic Auditorium

May 19

Downtown Car Show by the Flatland Cruisers

June 2

The Dirty Kanza

June 9th

Symphony in the Flint Hills

  
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! 

Benefactors 

The City of Emporia

Lyon County

Bobby D's BBQ

Caribbean Sun Tanning

CoreFirst Bank & Trust

The Emporia Gazette

ESB Financial

Emporia's Radio

StationsKVOE, 104.9, Country 101.7

Longbine Auto Plaza

Roberts Blue Barnett Funeral Home

T2 Verizon Wireless

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

Inno-Vest Corporation

Java Cat 5

Jimmy John's

Kansas Radio 96.1 The Wave

Kari's Diamonds by Design

KISS 103.1

Krueger & Williams Law Office

L & L Pets

Little Acorns

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

Total Technology, LLC

Town Crier Bookstore

Town Royal

Water's True Value

Westar Energy

Wheat State Pizza

Williams Automotive

 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 

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 

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 

Emporia Main Street E- Newsletter

 The events listed above, holiday lighting and more are brought to you through the support of Red Ribbon Merchants.  Thank these Red Ribbon Merchants TODAY!

AKA Marketing, Bath Expressions, Brown's Shoe Fit, Complete Works, Dan's Hands, the Emporia Arts Council, Forget Me Not, Graves Drug Store, IM Design Group, Lyon County Title, L & L Pets, Plum Bazaar, Poehler Mercantile, Pro Cuts, Stanley Jewelry, Studio 11, Town Crier and Twisted Sisters. 

To sign up for tickets: CLICK HERE!

We still need a few more models for the fashion shows, so if you are over 5'5" tall and would like to participate, please contact the Emporia Granada Theatre at 620-342-3342.

For more information on the Conference: CLICK HERE!

Want more information?  Click HERE!

The Start Your Own Business Class is a joint effort between Flint Hills Technical College, the Small Business Development Center at Emporia State University and Emporia Main Street.  Classes run from February 14th through March 15th. For more information on the class CLICK HERE! 

The Season of Giving 

Volunteers like Lane Hollern of L & L Pets help make the season bright by hanging downtown lights!

 A special thanks to our members, volunteers and Red Ribbon merchants, for all they do!

Red Ribbon Merchants help Emporia Main Street produce items like local horse drawn carriage rides, breakfast with Santa, Kris Kringles Kids Shoppe, downtown lighting and other holiday events.  Without their contributions, we couldn't do what we do during the holiday season.  Take a moment to look through these videos of Red Ribbon Merchants via the video lens of our Main Street intern Sam Norris, and remember to thank a Red Ribbon Merchant!  Click the link below to watch the "Sam Cam" videos of participating Red Ribbon Merchants!

AKA The Sports Fan 

Horse drawn carriage rides bring people to the community and expose them to unique shopping opportunities.

Brown's Shoe Fit 

Emporia Arts Council

Bath Expressions by Burnap 

Graves Drug Store

L & L Pets

Plum Bazaar

Breakfast with Santa helps bring joy to hundreds of kids and acts as an advertising conduit to parents with Main Street dining guides and coupons.

Studio 11

Town Crier Bookstore 

Complete Works

Twisted Sisters

Forget Me Not

Dan's Hands

IM Design 

Midnight Madness is a huge shopping event that helps holiday registers ring!

Lyon County Title

Poehler Mercantile

We also received support from Pro Cuts!   

 Studies from a variety of sources show that locally owned businesses give a higher percentage of their gross sales back to the local community.  It's just a fact!  Of course, we see that every day in Main Street, as local businesses dig deep to help everyone they can in the community.  These great local businesses need you to reciprocate so they can continue to employ local citizens, build the local tax base and help support local charitable causes.  So, when you are out buying local this Christmas season, remember that you are supporting more than just a business when you purchase, you are supporting the community, and that should make you feel pretty good.

Last week we got some exciting news and heard from several guests at the passenger RAIL meeting held at the Main Street office, we had the

Still looking for the perfect gift?  Main Street gift certificates can be used at about 200 locations throughout Emporia!

Board Christmas Party, we conducted two local radio interviews and participated in a "Talk of Emporia", we hosted Kris Kringles Kids Shoppe from Thursday through Saturday, we hosted a Design Committee Meeting, we lead a Promotions Meeting, we held a sold-out carriage ride, we met with officials from the Kansas Department of Transportation, we met with a promising business for the Kellogg Plaza and Lofts and we set up a site visit with a few entrepreneurs looking at an existing vacant building.  Super busy, but it lead to some great questions from all of you!

1.  "How can I tell if my non-profit status is up to date?"  From a member.  First, work with your local accountant (like Pool and Wright) to ensure that all of your paper work is up to date and submitted in the proper manner.  Second, you can reference sites like the following:  http://www.melissadata.com/lookups/np.asp?zip=66801 to view Emporia non-profits, assets and income for each year.  If you are a non-profit, refilling on a yearly basis is a fairly simple process.  If you support a local non-profit, it is important to understand their structure. 

2.  "How did Kris Kringles Kids Shoppe go?"  From several people. It was a lot of fun, and we had a few future power shoppers stop in.  Overall the event was successful, with a few parents stating that their children got their shopping done while they did some shopping of their own in a variety of downtown stores.  A big THANK YOU to some groups and individuals that donated wrapping supplies: Applebees, Williams Automotive, Mary Kay via Brenda Braynard, Plum Bazaar and Town Crier.  It was great to see local businesses step up and help kids shop for Christmas!

3.  "Where are you doing your Christmas shopping?" From a few people. I often get the "do you practice what you preach" questions from people, and that's a good thing.  In the mid-west, actions speak louder than words, so if I asked the public to shop locally and then I didn't shop locally myself, that would be counter productive.  Everything I've purchased for Christmas is local, and it has been that way for the past several years.  My wife occasionally reads this column, so I won't go into "where" (and I have a little shopping left, I am a guy after all...).      

Have you purchased your 2011 Emporia Main Street ornament of Anderson Library yet?

4.  "Where did you get the idea for the on-line videos?" From a few Facebook followers. Each year, we try to shoot some digital video footage of our Red Ribbon merchants and holiday activities.  This year, we were blessed with a very talented intern that could take our digital video project to the next level.  Sam Norris, our Emporia Main Street intern visited several of the local Red Ribbon Merchants with her "Sam Cam" to showcase a small window into these businesses from her perspective.  The videos have been very well received, with a lot of "likes", "comments" and "shares".  We want to again thank our local Red Ribbon Merchants for supporting our holiday activities, and we want to thank Sam for her great work on the "Sam Cam".

5. "How did you get involved in the Granada Bridal and Prom Expo"?"  From a local media member. The Granada Theatre asked Main Street to get involved, and this event obviously benefits both our members and the community, so we said "yes".  The Granada Bridal and Prom Expo is quickly building a regional reputation as the first Bridal and Prom Expo of the year, and as a high quality show.  This year's move to a Saturday (January 7th from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.) plus some MUCH larger prizes should mean an even bigger expo with more benefits for the community.  If you know someone planning a wedding, or someone heading to prom this spring, I highly encourage you to check out the Granada Bridal and Prom Expo this year!  Reserve your tickets in advance by clicking HERE!