Christmas was certainly in the air last Sunday, December 17 with two family friendly activities going on that afternoon.  The "Shopping with the Elves" event provided an opportunity for children to shop for their family members  and was a great success with many gifts purchased and wrapped.  Volunteer students from Yellow Medicine East were a great help! 

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​The same afternoon featured Lomen's reindeer at the Andrew J. Volstead House with Santa and Mrs. Claus inside taking orders and posing for photos.  Carl Lomen was married to Andrew Volstead's only daughter, Laura, and is credited for bringing part of his Alaskan reindeer herd to parades in St. Paul and other large cities in the 1920s.  So along with celebrating the season, there is also a historical reason for the reindeer to visit Granite Falls.  The warm weather was probably a factor accounting for record attendance at this event. It was fun to see all the family photos with Santa and outside in his sleigh flanked by the reindeer. 

Thank you to all the volunteers who made this possible! Thank you for the donations for the children's shopping mall both from local businesses and individuals.  The Granite Falls Historical Society plans to make this a yearly event and the Chamber will also host the children's shopping mall again next year.  

Thank you to all the loyal chamber members who support our work throughout the year!  As well as hosting events, a web presence, social media and educational programs for businesses, the chamber is combined with the convention and visitor's center or CVB.  I think this is one aspect that is often overlooked and an important reason to support the chamber.  Using the lodging tax money, the CVB's mission is to attract visitors to Granite Falls.  I also believe that a place people want to visit is a place where people want to live.  Here is a summary of the marketing done in 2017 by the CVB.  Many of these ads are included in the  Explore Minnesota Tourism Marketing Grant which reimburses the CVB for 50% of the funding.  In 2018, the CVB is pairing with the EDA to increase the budget through this grant.  This is only a partial list but gives an idea of the type of publications and marketing done throughout the year besides the local paper, Advisor and Peach.

* Facebook ads for events and general promotion of website clicks. 
* Paid promotions, updates and events added and management of this website -  www.visitgranitefalls.com
*Western Minnesota Prairie Waters full page ad for Granite Falls.  All Granite Falls businesses are included in the shopping and restaurant guide with no cost to the business, updated by myself.  The director is a member of the board of Western Minnesota Prairie Waters Tourism .  The new Get Rural website will be live in 2018 -  www.prairiewaters.com . #GetRuralMN  is promoting the lifestyle of our area, a one stop recruitment page that includes information about all the counties and towns in the Prairie Waters area. 
*I am a member of the Minnesota River Valley Scenic Byway Alliance which creates a printed guide and website including many "Discovery Sites" in our area .  The website is being updated with Dakota history from a MHS grant which hired Dakota elders to create the content.
*Mall of America paid spot for brochure distribution of the Granite Falls Guide with 10 boxes distributed so far this year.
*Pioneer Public TV ad for Granite Falls scheduled during the Sunday evening Antiques Road Show
* Ad in the Southern Minnesota Guide, I am on the marketing committee of this organization which is targeting the metro area, Wisconsin and South Dakota with e-mail blasts, Pandora radio and online.  
* Ad in the Yellowstone Trail Guide
*Ad in South Dakota Magazine - in print and online