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

Our local newspaper has gone through many changes just in the time I've been the chamber director.  Many small town newspapers have disappeared from the landscape, but the Granite Falls and Clarkfield Advocate Tribune remains the go to source for local news stories.  I've asked some of the employees for their thoughts on working at our local paper.
 Lee Ann Smith is in the composition department. " I have been with the Advocate Tribune for about 10 years now.  Definitely gets in your blood and rarely a dull moment.  An eclectic group to work with for sure!  I'm pretty much a jack of all trades, master of none employee.  I proofread most of the articles/pages but also spend a lot of time typing and formatting, cutting and pasting things such as the Jim Putnam column, news from Care Centers in both Granite and Clarkfield, obituaries, weddings, births, police reports, disposition bulletins, memories from past years going back 5, 10, 25 50 and 90 years, letters to the editor, brieflies and much more. " 

The newest employee is editor Kyle Klausing. 
"I started working for the newspaper in late July, when I moved to Granite Falls from my hometown of St. Louis Park. I was hired as News Editor, and my responsibilities include writing, photo editing, and layout. While I have certainly come a long way over the past 4 months, there is still a lot left for me to learn.
 It’s a pretty small group of us who work here, so we all have pretty clear roles to play. That said, I also think we do a good job at helping each other out when things get busy (which, as I’ve learned in the newspaper business, can happen when you least expect it).
In my opinion, this job comes down to knowing people in the community. Newspapers tell and preserve stories about people and places. It’s important to forge connections with community leaders, which means always putting yourself out there. While it certainly hasn’t happened overnight, I have immensely enjoyed getting to know people around town. Everybody has a story to tell, the trick is knowing who to talk to."

A newspaper is part of our identity as a community, we're happy to have a thriving newspaper in Granite Falls! 

This past August I met with travel writer, Berit Thorkelson and gave her the "Prohibition Story" tour of the Volstead House and downtown.  She and her family stayed one night at Prairie's Edge Casino and the second night in a tipi at Upper Sioux Agency State Park.  Over the weekend, she crammed in as many visits to local businesses and restaurants as possible.  I was excited to see the results in the most recent issue of Minnesota Monthly Magazine!  Granite Falls is featured as Minnesota Monthly's city of the month!   It was exciting to see the article in print taking up three pages of the back of the magazine!

See what Berit had to say about her visit to Granite Falls - http://www.minnesotamonthly.com/Travel-Outdoors/Minnesota-Travel-Regions/Southern-Minnesota/Granite-Falls-is-Rock-Steady/index.php?&mode=print

This week, we are featuring our newest chamber member, Connect Hearing, located at 761 Prentice St., Suite 3 in downtown Granite Falls.  

The Granite Falls Connect Hearing clinic offers a no-cost hearing screening, as well as free two week hearing aid trials! This short, easy screening will confirm the health of your hearing. If it shows you can benefit from hearing technology, your highly qualified hearing care professional will guide you through solutions customized for your lifestyle and budget. We have a two-person staff consisting of a licensed Audiologist, Gina Kontz, M.A., who has over 20 years of experience, and her Patient Care Coordinator, Christina Enger, who has over 5 years of health care experience. Connect Hearing is open Monday through Friday from 8:30-5. Please call if you have questions or to set up an appointment at 320-564-0066. 

The latest technology for hearing aids is available right here in Granite Falls! 

Historically, Granite Falls ACMC was the only clinic in Granite Falls.  They joined with other area clinics to form a multi-specialty health network in West Central and Southwest Minnesota with over 180 physicians and advanced practice providers in 40 specialty areas.  ACMC is committed to improving the health of our communities and maintaining its role as the healthcare leader of choice.  They have a great Facebook page that features employees of the month, events and new employees, follow them to keep updated. www.facebook.com/acmchealth.  ACMC-Granite Falls has three family medicine physicians, a nurse practitioner and a physician assistant. They serve the 25-bed Granite Falls Municipal Hospital and neighboring 57-bed Medicare certified skilled care Granite Falls Manor. 

The physicians at ACMC are Darrell L. Carter, MD;  Mark W. Eakes, MD, MPH; James R. Nedurd, PA-C: Magdalena L. Pietka, MD; and Arthur J. Rillo, MD; as well as advanced practice provider Shannon L. Slagter, RN, CNP.  Great access to health care sets Granite Falls apart as a rural community and makes us a prime location for retirees and new residents.   

It's all about art this fall!  The weekend of September 29, 30 and October 1 is the regional self-guided “trip on a tank full” tour of artist studios, galleries and shops along the upper Minnesota River featuring nearly 40 artisans in 30 studios from Dawson to Montevideo and Ortonville to Granite Falls and all points in between.  If you haven't participated, make plans to visit some of the studios along this route.  It's a beautiful fall drive that takes you off the beaten path to some fun, rural locations. Get your brochures at the chamber office or download online at http://www.artsmeander.com/. Every year, the Meander committee keeps track of the visitor numbers and money spent through their "passport" program that gets stamped at each location.  And every year the numbers increase.  It's a great boost for our local economy including motels, restaurants, museums and other shops as well as the participating studios.  Get your tickets for Musical Chairs on Meander Friday Night, September 29, at the chamber office or online.  This year the progressive dinner will start out at the plaza next to the footbridge with live music. Tickets that include details and timing of the music and locations will be sold for all the food courses rather than pay as you go, cost is $28.  At the same location on September 29 will be the first event of our public art project from 4-7:30 PM.  The public is welcome to bring a small treasure such as shells, rocks, pieces of dishes, jewelry to place in a mosaic that will be a part of the River Voices project.  Here is the drawing of the mural which will be located on the outside stairway next to the footbridge.

Thank you for choosing Granite Falls as your meeting location, it was great to host the statewide meeting of the Minnesota Extension Regional Sustainable Development Partnerships (RSDP) and hear about all your great projects in our area. 

We know that we live in a beautiful place with lots of activities to keep us busy. Potential employees that live in other areas or the metro need to be convinced of that to accept a job position in our area.  Recruitment is one of the biggest problems facing our employers.  Last week, I attended a seminar hosted by the Southwest Initiative Foundation addressing these problems.

There were many tips that employers can use in just forming the job description.  Especially, when recruiting millennials, the new employee wants to know more about the company and the potential for growth, company culture and untraditional benefits like being able to bring your pet to work or a volunteer program.  Many companies already have these programs but neglect to describe them on their website or in the job description. Social media is another wonderful way a company can describe its culture, show candid photos of employees at work and give the viewer an idea of what it’s like to work there.

Granite Falls Health  is a fitting example of this and they’re local. They have a Facebook page where they feature employees of the month, events at the Care Center as well as their job postings. Their job postings also describe their philosophy and mission. Facebook now has a jobs feature that’s free to use. If you just start typing in a post that mentions hiring or job, this will pop up and a form is there to fill out. Your job will then appear in the searchable jobs feature on Facebook. 

At the SWIF meeting, I also learned how to promote the job listing targeting potential employees in certain geographic areas. You can also narrow it down even more by looking at certain type of training, past experiences and those people who have been laid off a similar job. Posting videos of current employees describing the work environment and benefits is another terrific way to get your message out.  If you need help with any of these ideas, contact me at the chamber office. I have experience with targeting paid ads on Facebook, help with promoting your business or event, and help set up job postings.