Seward Area Chamber of Commerce
Advocating for, Promoting and Recruiting Business Together! 
Weekly Update
Aug. 24, 2015

Upcoming Dates
 
Aug 27 @ Noon
SADC 
Nates on the Nine
 
Sept 1 @ Noon 
Board of Directors
Civic Center 
Join Our Mailing List
Seward Chamber of Commerce
616 Bradford St.
402-643-4189
Fax:  402-643-4713
[email protected]

A message from Kathy Evert,
Interim Executive Director:
 
I am happy to be a part of the Seward Area Chamber of Commerce and serving as your Interim Executive Director.  This is such a great community and area; the pride in this community is very evident.   I am anxious to meet all of our Chamber members and stakeholders and to help plant some seeds for your future.  Feel free to contact me any time at the Chamber office or by email -
[email protected].
 
A little bit about myself - I am a Nebraska native; I grew up in Ponca, NE and have lived and worked in Nebraska and Iowa all of my life.  I have been involved in community and economic development organizations for over 30 years, 25 of which have been at the executive level.  My experiences have mostly been in new organizations (consolidations between Chambers of Commerce, economic development organizations and others) as well as re-building organizations where the former executives were let go.  I started my own company in 2014, KJE Solutions, LLC, and have been assisting non-profits and start-up companies with talent recruitment, research, strategic planning, and sales.
 
A big thank you to Pat, Sharon, Denise and Resa for all of their hard work this summer!  The Chamber has continued its tradition of promoting the community and serving its member businesses with everyone working together during this transitional period. 
 
There are several events and activities coming up on the calendar and we hope you will join us.  Two events where we are seeking additional volunteers at this time are the Spring Show scheduled for Feb. 5-6 and our annual Extravaganza.  Give us a call or email us to learn more about these and express your interest.
 
Only 120 days until Christmas!  2015 is moving along very quickly and we have a lot to be thankful for and to celebrate. 
 
All the best,
 
Kathy Evert 

Nebraska Antique Aircraft Association Fly-In at Seward Airport
August 28, 29, 30  
 
Nebraska is hosting a fly-in and inviting people from Nebraska and other states to fly-in to Seward before the national event in Iowa the following weekend.  This is an all day event with no schedule.  They will also have an antique tractor display on Saturday.      
 
Saturday and Sunday breakfasts and evening meals will be at the airport.  They will be on their own for the noon meal.

Seward Garners Top Honors with Six Awards at State 2015 Keep Nebraska Beautiful Conference!

 
The City of Seward, the Keep Seward Beautiful Committee, Seward High School and the City of Seward Clean-Up Day Committee all were the recipients of the First Place/Top Awards in a variety of categories promoting recycling and the environment at the recent statewide, Keep Nebraska Beautiful Conference at the Garden Hilton in Lincoln on August 20, 2015. The City of Seward won the top overall award at the conference, the Deanie Anderson Outstanding Environmental Award Overall Winner for the community's outstanding volunteer environmental programs and projects. The City of Seward also won first place in their population division for the Deanie Anderson Outstanding Environmental Award and the Keep Seward Beautiful Committee and the City of Seward won First Place in the Great American Clean-Up Award for their annual recycle day program, along with a First Place award to Seward High School in the Youth Group/School Secondary Award for the school's outstanding recycling programs at the secondary level.

The GFWC Seward Woman's Club was the first runner-up in the Civic/Non-Profit Group Award for their many environmental programs and projects, and the Seward High FCCLA was recognized with an Award of Excellence in the School Recycling Award Category.

Seward High educator and longtime recycling enthusiast and volunteer, Pat Piskorski has annually coordinated the very successful "in house" recycling program at SHS- promoting the recycling of paper, aluminum and plastic, along with any and everything recyclable-reaching record numbers for the program this last year. The SHS FCCLA Advisor and SHS Educator, Kate Pittack, is the FCCLA sponsor and coordinator of the FCCLA volunteers for the many recycling projects-including the annual Seward Recycle Day in April for the community.

The theme of the conference was "Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Action!" The conference was sponsored by the Keep Nebraska Beautiful Committee, an affiliate of the Keep America Beautiful program. Featured at the conference was Sue Smith, of Keep America Beautiful and Jane Polson, of the Keep Nebraska Beautiful Committee.

Attending the conference and representing the Seward area were GFWC Seward Woman's Club representatives-Marna Grubb and Betty Galen, Jean Kolterman-Keep Seward Beautiful Committee, Roger Glawatz-Seward County, Sharon Hambek and Sharon Glawatz-Seward Chamber of Commerce, Scott Willet-Seward Chamber First Impressions Committee, Paige Snyder, Lizzie Roth, Clarke Chandler and Logan Penas-all representing Seward High and the SHS FCCLA and Clark Kolterman of the Seward County Visitors Committee.

This is the 51st year of the Keep Nebraska Beautiful program and the Community of Seward has been involved with the program for almost all of those 51 years! Jean Kolterman serves as the local chair for the Keep Seward Beautiful Committee. The plaques will be presented to the City of Seward/City Council for display in designated areas.


Seward's Annual Fourth of July Celebration in Top 10!
 
Seward's Annual Fourth of July Celebration was selected to be one of the "Top 10" Fourth of July Celebrations in the USA, selected by MPA@UNC in a ranking prepared by Logan Harper, based on a series of contributing factors to compare celebrations across the nation. The survey was completed independently. The celebrations did not apply for the distinction or rankings, prepared by Harper at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill-School of Government. The survey was conducted to assist in the promotion of the Nation's July 4 events, encouraging American's to consider celebrating the nation's founding in a family, fun filled day every year!

The community's hosting the Top 10 July 4 Celebrations included in no particular ranking or order 1. Bristol, Rhode Island: The Bristol Fourth of July Celebration, 2. Detroit, Michigan: The Windsor-Detroit International Freedom Festival, 3. Telluride, Colorado: The Telluride Fourth of July Celebration, New York, New York: Macy's Firework's Show and Festival, 5. Addison, Texas: KaBoom Town!, 6. Washington, D.C.: "A Capitol Fourth," 7. Philadelphia, PA: Wawa Welcome America! Festival,8. Hawaii: Fourth of July-Hawaii Style, Gatlinburg, TN: The Midnight Parade, 10. Seward, NE: "America's Fourth of July City-Small Town USA!"

The judges' comments on Seward included, "In 1979, an act of Congress designated Seward 'America's Fourth of July City-Small Town USA.' The city's population is only about 7,000, but it grows to 50,000 attendees to partake in the classic America celebration that includes parades, pole vaulting, water fights by the firemen, an apple pie eating contest, concerts, races, antique show, craft show and many family, fun filled activities. If you ever wanted to experience the very essence of small town America, Seward's annual July 4 celebration should be on your radar!"

"Seward's annual celebration is honored to be in the rankings with many of our large budget, sister celebrations," states Austin Van Velson, Seward's July 4 Youth Coordinator. "It is exciting to be in this category of honor and be even considered as one of the best celebrations in the nation and makes our committee want to work even harder to keep up the tradition!"

For more information on Seward's annual July 4 Celebration, visit www.JulyFourthSeward.com or contact the Seward Chamber of Commerce at 402-643-4189.