Our monthly report is now available for your perusal. You can download it here.
Strangers to the blog might be amazed by the activity as of late, but regular readers won’t. We’re seeing some serious economic growth in our community and have the details behind it in this month’s newsletter. You’ll also find photo contest news, sales tax figures and more.
Have a great Labor Day all, be safe and be well!
Congratulations to our winners of August’s Photo Contest, Rural Farm & Ranch! You can view the winning photos below. We had several great submissions for this month’s contest.
1st Place: Susan Schauer with her photo, “Checking Pastures North of North Loup”, winner of $200 in Ord Chamber Bucks
2nd Place: Jennifer Schauer with her photo, “Mira Valley Farm”, winner of $100 in Ord Chamber Bucks
You can find more information on next month’s contest, Community Event Memories, here.
Checking Pastures North of North Loup
Mira Valley Farm
The Valley County Economic Development Board is holding their monthly board meeting today. Some exciting agenda items are up for discussion:
- New Neighborhoods
- Congressman Smith’s staffer report on the Health Care Reform Act
- Rural Entrepreneurship Academy Discussion
- VCED Board Retreat
- Business Development News
You can download the August agenda here and the July meeting minutes here. You’re welcome to join us!
You can view the submissions for August’s Photo Contest below and you can cast your vote for your favorite here. You have a lot to choose from!
Beef - It's What's for Dinner
Cattle in a Northern Valley County Corral
Checking Pastures North of North Loup
Everybody In
Getting Ready to Ride
Grandma & Grandpa's Calf
Let's Ride
Life on the Ranch
Mira Valley Farm
Pasture by the North Loup River
Rainbow on the Ranch
Rural Pasture
Sunflower with Buzz
Winter Farm & Ranch
The Loup River Valley Tourism Coalition, in partnership with Nebraska Life Magazine, is pleased to announce the upcoming publication of the 2011 ESCAPE to Calamus and Scenic Loup River Valley Travel Guide. The ESCAPE Travel Guide is a unique tourism and economic development partnership between counties and communities that promotes Loup Valley amenities, attractions, events and businesses. The travel guide is funded in full by advertising sales, the lodging tax fund for tourism promotion and sales tax proceeds for economic development.
The 2011 Guide will also mark five years of cooperative marketing for tourism in the Loup Valley. Both the coalition and the ESCAPE Travel Guide have won state awards in tourism promotion excellence. New for this year is the inclusion of Howard County attractions and events as part of the publication.
Nebraska Life writers, photographers and sales staff will be working in the region in September. The sales deadline for advertising is September 15, 2010. If you are interested in advertising in the 2011 ESCAPE Travel Guide, contact Nebraska Life sales staff at (800) 777-6159.
For more information or to submit story ideas and photos to the magazine, contact either David Sawyer at the Burwell/Garfield County CVB at (308) 346-5210 or Caleb Pollard at Valley County Tourism at (308) 728-7875. If you’re interested in ordering a current travel guide, don’t hesitate to give us a call at one of the numbers above.
You may have read our previous blog post about The Ord Option and the benefits of buying locally. To help support you local community you can participate in Ord’s new buy local campaign, The Ord Option.
FREE Ord Option shopping bags and Ord Option cards are now available at the Ord Chamber office, 1514 K Street. By spending your dollars locally, you are supporting our local businesses as well as increasing your chances of winning $500 in Ord Chamber Bucks in the month of September. And the prizes don’t stop there! For more information, follow the link above, or contact the Chamber office at (308) 728-7875 and stop by the Chamber office to pick up a bag and a card!
Ord Sidewalk Sales and the 15th Annual City Wide Garage Sales are coming up this Saturday, August 21!
You can download a complete listing of garage sale and sidewalk sale participants here. You can also pick up a copy of the garage sale listings and map at Cheveux Salon, Pump & Pantry – Ord, Trotter’s Whoa & Go – Ord, Good Life Pharmacy, and Anderson Pharmacy.
Participating businesses in this year’s Sidewalk Sales include: Anderson Pharmacy, Calamity Jane’s Steakhouse & Lounge, Creative Designs, Central Computer Services, Professional Eyecare, Misko Sports, Second Hand Rose (Parkside Storage Unit 5), Trotter’s Whoa & Go, and Arby’s.
Ord will be buzzing with activity this weekend with all of the events and activities that will be taking place. The Loup Valley Livestock Challenge will bring many out-of-towners to the area on August 21-22 as well as the Comstock or Bust festival on August 19-22!
On August 16th the Ord Area Chamber of Commerce will be launching a campaign called “BUY LOCAL: THE ORD OPTION”. The campaign’s purpose is to inform residents of Ord and the surrounding area of the importance of buying locally, resulting in benefits for both consumers and businesses. As part of this campaign, we will inform consumers of the points listed on the enclosed article, The Benefits of Buying Locally.
In our efforts to encourage consumers to spend their dollars locally, the Ord Chamber of Commerce will distribute reusable “Ord Option” shopping bags as well as “Ord Option” cards, both displaying the logo below. At participating businesses, customers will receive one initialed box (initialed by the employee making the sale) if they spend $5.00 or more on a single purchase. If they spend $5.00 or more and use their Ord Option reusable shopping bag, they will receive two initialed boxes.
Please note, customers only receive an initialed box if they spend $5.00 or more, not for every $5.00 they spend. When customers complete an entire card, they may turn it in at the Ord Chamber office to enter a drawing at the end of each month for Ord Chamber Bucks. The chart below explains the dates of the drawings, prizes, and the use of cards in the drawings. Only completely filled cards will be accepted in the drawing. Customers can pick up new cards at the Ord Chamber office as well as participating businesses.
| Drawing | Prize | |
| Friday, September 24 | $500 Ord Chamber Bucks | September Ord Option cards |
| Friday, October 29 | $250 Ord Chamber Bucks | October Ord Option cards |
| Friday, November 26 | $250 Ord Chamber Bucks | November Ord Option cards |
| Friday, December 24 | $500 Ord Chamber Bucks | Sept.-Dec. Ord Option cards |
In conjunction with this campaign, a brief online survey is being conducted to gather information on how much our local businesses give back to our community in terms of donations and charity work. We hope the results will educate local consumers on the positive effects shopping locally can have for their local community. If your business has not yet taken the survey and would like to do so, please contact the Ord Chamber office and we will provide you with a link to the survey.
As a local business, we encourage you to take the survey, mentioned above, even if you do not wish to participate in the “BUY LOCAL: THE ORD OPTION” campaign. If your business does choose to participate, all that would be required of you and your employees is to accept the Ord Option cards according to the guidelines above.
If you are interested in participating in this campaign, please contact the Ord Chamber office by e-mail, listed below, or call us at (308) 728-7875 by Friday, August 13 to ensure your business is included on the Ord Option list of businesses. If you are not a retail business but would still like to participate in the Ord Option campaign, please contact the Chamber office to discuss alternatives to replace the $5.00 purchase.
We appreciate your support in promoting our local community!
You can now download August’s report here. This month’s report includes information on upcoming buisness open houses, as well as many events and activities in the area including the Valley County Fair, Ord’s City Wide Garage Sales, Ord’s Sidewalk Sales, Comstock or Bust, and more!
Speaking of growth, check out the growth in our economic development fund. This is made possible by increased activity in the retail sector, which in turns help build a vibrant community.
The Loup Valley Jaycees are pleased to announce a 2010 Summer Raffle to raise funds for a community improvement project in Ord. Help the Jaycees sell 1,000 tickets and make a lasting impact on the future of our community.
Of course you’re asking “what are the prizes I can win?” The Grand Prize winner will receive:
Two (2) 2010 season tickets to the Nebraska Cornhuskers last football season in the Big 12! Seats are located in the 3rd Row, south side of the stadium.
Other prizes in the Jaycees raffle include:
2nd Place winners will receive: Two season passes to the soon-to-be newly renovated VC.
3rd Place winners will receive: $100 in Ord ChamberBucks.
How much are tickets? Raffle tickets are $10/ticket, and can be purchased by contacting any Loup Valley Jaycee or by emailing the Jaycees at loupvalleyjaycees@gmail.com. To register, send a check made out to Loup Valley Jaycees with a *stamped* self-addressed envelope to 1514 K Street, Ord NE 68862.
Winners will be chosen on Friday September 3rd, 2010 at 5pm at the Valley County Courthouse steps. You do not need to be present to win.
Thank you for supporting the Loup Valley Jaycees, community development in Ord and good luck winning tickets to an epic event in 2010!!!
