Get Into All Things Grinnell through this regular recap of community activities, events and opportunities!
A Boost & A Splash
A BOOST
When I stopped by the college earlier this afternoon, there was a line of athletes out the door of the Bear Center:
They are all arriving today to compete in the NCAA DIII Indoor Track & Field Championships being hosted at Grinnell College tomorrow and Saturday. Not only does this event draw 600+ college athletes from across the country, but it also brings their families and spectators, growing Grinnell by a few thousand people.
Hosting the national track meet is a fantastic boost to local tourism, but it's certainly not the only boost we see during the year. Sports tourism has a tremendous impact on our community. If you check the activity calendars at the high school, the college or Ahrens Park, you'll see how many weekends are filled with athletic events that attract visitors to our community.
We in Grinnell are very fortunate to have unusual sports facilities for a community of our size, and those facilities allow us to host a variety of sporting events all year long, which draw thousands upon thousands of visitors here over the course of a year. When these teams and spectators visit our community, they are putting money into our local economy by purchasing food, going shopping, filling up at the gas station and staying in our hotels. This provides an economic boost to our community by bringing in outside dollars.
In an effort to increase the number of sporting events hosted in Grinnell, a group of locals have been working to plan more tournaments here to maximize the use of our sports facilities. Our community is also one of ten Iowa communities that received this year's state Sports Authority grant, which provides funding to support communities' efforts to increase tourism through sporting events. Our local Sports Authority committee awards mini-grants to assist many groups with the expense of hosting tournaments and events locally.
A SPLASH
While we're on the topic of sports tourism today, it's the perfect time to announce the 2016 Grinnell Games schedule! Save the date for June 11-12, because we have so many fun things in store for the event this year. We're very excited to add a big splash to this year's Games - a UV Splash, that is. The UV Splash will be that Saturday night and is a fun 5K run/bike event complete with black lights, glow necklaces and lots of color.
This year's Grinnell Games schedule includes:
See the full schedule and details at GrinnellGames.com. Please consider participating or volunteering to help us make this the biggest Grinnell Games yet!
~Emily Counts
Ripple Effects
A couple weeks ago, I saw a visitor on the sidewalk looking a little lost so I stopped and asked if he needed help finding anything. As we struck up a conversation, it was apparent how much of an impression the kindness of a few people at the coffee shop had left on him. Per their suggestion, he was walking around visiting some of our downtown businesses and was excited to show me the new book and pair of shoes he'd purchased.
The kindness of a couple residents in line at the coffee shop had quite the ripple effect. They had given him a few recommendations that resulted in him spending a little extra time downtown and supporting a couple of our local businesses. He told me he would have headed straight back to the Interstate if it weren't for his conversation with a couple locals. In fact, he travels by Grinnell for work from time to time and had only ever been to the coffee shop and the gas stations. I have no doubt this he will stop in Grinnell more frequently because of the positive experience he had here the other day. His short experience here turned him into a repeat visitor and shopper.
It's worth a reminder every now and then about how extremely important it is that we are all being friendly and kind to visitors and newcomers in our community. Your small act of kindness can truly create a ripple effect that benefits our entire community. Don't forget that.
The next couple weekends are big ones in town with a statewide youth swim meet this weekend that is expected to draw 360 swimmers plus all of their coaches and families, and next weekend is the national DIII indoor track & field meet with about 600 athletes plus all of their coaches and families. When you see these visitors out and about, don't underestimate what a simple 'hello' or 'welcome' can do to leave a good impression on them. By living or working in Grinnell, we are all ambassadors of this community. Let's see what kind of ripple effects we can create.
~ Emily Counts
Celebrating Women
International Women's Day is coming up on March 8, a day celebrated by millions around the globe to recognize women's achievements and contributions to business and society.
An inaugural dinner and reception in honor of International Women's Day is planned in Grinnell for March 8 and we would be delighted to have you join us. Julie Gosselink of the Claude W. and Dolly Ahrens Foundation will speak on "The Influence of a Grandmother: Remembering Dolly Ahrens."
The celebration is Tuesday, March 8 with a social at 5:30 at dinner at 6:00 pm at the Joe Rosenfield Center at Grinnell College. Tickets are $20 per person and available for purchase at our office or the Drake Community Library. Tickets must be reserved by March 1, so please let us know if you would like to purchase one.
Join us for an evening celebrating women - bring a guest and celebrate!
~ Emily Counts
A Colorful Downtown
Several months ago, we wrote about the importance public art can have in creating a vibrant and beautiful downtown. We told you about a new public art initiative led by Grin City Collective and the Grinnell Area Arts Council to introduce four works of public art into downtown Grinnell this summer. The four artists and designs have been selected and we are eager to see the new art pieces installed in our downtown this summer.
The new pieces will join existing artwork (murals, mosaics and a small number of sculptures) in our community. Not only does public art enhance the beauty of our community, but it adds to a community's culture and identity.
Here are the four art installations that will be added to downtown this summer:
1. Artist Tiberiu Chelsea from Ames, Iowa, will gather shoe prints from community members and design a two-sided ink print on canvas to be displayed in the window of Brown's Shoe Fit.
2. Stephanie Sailer of Swisher, Iowa, will create a large-scale sculpture of a lantern plant or ground cherry to be installed in the prairie grass at Drake Community Library.
3. Wilma Wyss from Berkeley, California, will design two 3-D mosaic sculptures of endangered Iowa prairie plants to be installed at the Grinnell Arts Center.
4. Bounnak Thamavong from Swisher, Iowa, will design a custom bench for the front garden at Relish.
You can read more about the artists' plans here. There are several public events plans this spring to celebrate the public art project, starting with a kick-off event next weekend and ending with an unveiling ceremony on June 11.
Keep the love in Grinnell this Valentine's Day! We've compiled a list of ideas for enjoying time with your friends or sweetheart this weekend while supporting Grinnell businesses.
Dining & Entertainment
Gifts
A Community-Wide Focus on Education
Did you know there are two great community initiatives underway focused on education priorities in Grinnell? One is the Campaign for Grade Level Reading which is aimed at preparing all kids to read at their grade level by third grade. The second is the Sills Gap Initiative which is focused on preparing graduates with the skills needed in the workforce.
Both of these initiatives are receiving extra support and manpower this year through the Grinnell AmeriCorps Partnership, a year-long program that places AmeriCorps service members at a variety of host sites throughout the community. Grinnell College is administering the AmeriCorps grant and serving as the backbone organization for this program.
There are currently eight AmeriCorps service members focusing on these two initiatives. Each service member is responsible for leading a task force of community members and launching a pilot project related to their action area. The additional support of the service members will help our community grow capacity and further the efforts of both initiatives.
Action areas include Summer Learning, School Readiness, Healthy Readers, Skills Gap, Family & Community Engagement, Volunteer Infrastructure, Afterschool Enrichment, and Summer Learning Programming. Each action area now has an AmeriCorps member leading it, and there are task forces to help with each. If you are interested in joining a task force or would like more information about how to get involved, please let me know and I will connect you.
Our schools need the support of our entire community, which is why our organization is participating in this effort. It is important that these efforts continue because they will strengthen our community and prepare our future workforce. We are a host site for the Family & Community Engagement AmeriCorps member, who just began working with us a week ago. Jacob will be busy developing marketing plans and communication strategies that support the efforts of all of the task forces, so he has a big job ahead!
- Emily Counts
As the new year gets underway, we always spend time reflecting on past accomplishments and re-evaluating our priorities and plans for the new year. Our organization has a lot on our agenda for 2016, but we won't be able to do it alone. While we work to strengthen the local Grinnell community, it's also important that we work with the other communities in our region. The old adage that we're stronger together is so true.
You may not know that our Chamber of Commerce is a member of the Greater Des Moines Partnership, which is the powerhouse regional chamber in Des Moines. We work together with the Partnership and its 21 affiliate chamber of commerces to work toward a common goal of strengthening central Iowa as a great place to do business and raise families. Our 300 local chamber members are all members of the Des Moines Partnership, which now represents 5,700 business members and is the 4th largest chamber in the nation. I think that speaks volumes for the collaboration happening in our state.
It's easy for those of us in Grinnell to look at Des Moines as a giant and opponent, but let's not forget that good things happening there often have ripple effects throughout the region. Rather than working in our own bubble, we aim to collaborate with our counterparts and neighbors in other communities to learn from each other and grow stronger together.
We hope you have that same mentality here locally. Rather than doing something off on your own, consider ways you can collaborate with others here in Grinnell. That's largely what we do as the chamber of commerce. We bring together 300 members to work toward a common goal of making Grinnell an amazing place to live, work, learn and play.
I encourage you to reflect on how you work together with others in our community. It's always a good time to get more involved, and we'd be happy to help you make those connections if you can. Let's pool our resources, put our heads together, and work as a team.
We truly can accomplish great things when we work together.
- Rachael Kinnick
p.s. Our Annual Celebration will take place in March - please take a moment to nominate businesses and/or individuals for awards and help us celebrate their accomplishments! Submit your nominations online here.
Searching for the best
It's that time of year when we ask you to nominate your favorite businesses, organizations and individuals for our annual awards. So think about who has impressed you, where you have had an extraordinary experience and who has done amazing things with their business this year. Those are the sort of people we're looking to recognize.
Everyone is invited to submit nominations, and you are welcome to self-nominate. Here is the list of award categories: 
Nominations will be accepted until 5 p.m. on February 12. The award recipients will be recognized at the Chamber of Commerce Annual Celebration which will take place mid-March.
5th Grade Entrepreneurs
Earlier this week, I had the chance to be a part of the Entrepreneur for the Day program that the Grinnell 5th graders participated in. They spent the day developing business concepts in small groups, talking about product development, marketing, budgets and the difference between being an employee and being an entrepreneur. The program was led by Poweshiek County Extension staff.
I felt so much energy when I walked into each classroom, and I could tell they were having fun and were quite excited about their business ideas. Part of the excitement might also have been due to the fact that I walked in the room with my husband, whom many immediately recognized as the video game store owner, a store many of them frequent.
We were there along with Bill Hammen of Bill's Jewelry and Val Hammond of the Spaulding Inn. We rotated among classrooms and the students got the chance to ask us questions about our businesses. It was quite fun, and really interesting to hear the kinds of business questions that were on the minds of 5th graders. They asked what the best and worse parts of being a business owner are, what we wish we would have known before we started, types of expenses we have, how we market ourselves, working with employees, how we work to prevent theft, and so much more. I was quite surprised by the variety of questions and level of detail. It certainly wasn't all serious, though. David answered plenty of questions about popular video games and his favorite super heroes.
I hope that at least a few of those students become entrepreneurs in our community one day. We need young people like them with enthusiasm and innovation to open new ventures and to carry on existing businesses in our community. I'm curious to see which of them are running their own businesses in Grinnell 20 years from now.
~ Emily Counts
Did you know our office works with all types of businesses that are looking to start or grow here in Grinnell? We aim to be a resource to new businesses no matter where they're at in the start-up process.
From brainstorms over coffee to giving feedback on business plans, and from touring potential locations to connecting them with other community resources, I'm working with several prospective business ventures right now.
If you're thinking of starting a business, now is a great time to get serious about it. By getting all of your research and planning done during the winter months, you can be ready to open once the weather warms back up.
If you have any interest in opening a business, please contact our office. And if you've thought about starting a business but something is holding you back, let us know so we can try to help you and others like you overcome that roadblock.
Each business is unique, but some of the main ways we work with new businesses include:
Since our office is always working with prospective businesses and current businesses, we may be aware of upcoming changes/transitions that aren't public knowledge yet. Our policy is to let each business tell their story when they're ready, but if you come to us with an idea, we just might know of someone else starting something that could affect you. For instance, one time a prospective new business came to me looking for help finding a location. I happened to know of another new business that was interested in having sub-tenants. The two had great synergy and ended up sharing a space. If I wouldn't have been aware of both of their plans, they likely wouldn't have connected and ended up sharing their space, operating expenses, and synergy with each other.
If you are starting a business in Grinnell or exploring the possibility, please get in touch with our office to see how we can assist you. It doesn't matter if you're about to open, or if you're not even sure if your idea would work here. Let us help you get started.
~ Emily Counts
