I recently had the opportunity to tour the newly renovated Conference Center in Silver City. In one wordGǪ WOW! It is a beautiful facility and though I will try to describe it, wellGǪ you will just have to see it for yourself when it opens.

As you walk through the main double doors, located next to Ace Hardware, your eyes immediately are attracted to the emblems of all the military services. The emblems are definitely the focal point as you walk into the building. New flooring, new walls, new hallwaysGǪ even the new bathrooms look nice. In one of the large rooms there is a wonderful built-in stage that is large enough to for bands, and beside the stage is a large, really attractive bar. Some of the rooms have drop-down screens for video presentations. Some rooms have moveable walls to accommodate large and small meetings. Heck, there's even an archery room, complete with archery netting. For those events needing a place for food preparation there is a commercial heating kitchen in the conference center.

This facility really is nice. I believe most of you will be proud of the new Conference Center, and frankly all of you should. But there are always a few soreheads around that simply will not care about it.

The Grant County Conference Center should be another tool for Grant County to use to entice people to visit Silver City and the surrounding areas. It will be a wonderful facility for local, regional, and even state-wide groups to use for conferences and events. We will now have a great number of opportunities to add dollars to our local economy through room rentals, food sales, shopping before and after conferences, adding money to our Lodgers Tax funds, the gross receipts for our city and county, and helping create a few new jobs to professionally manage and operate the Conference Center.

I can't speak for our county officials, but I would bet that people can begin booking events right after the first of the year. I believe the Grant County Commissioners will have an Open House as soon as all the furniture arrives and all the last minute construction bugs get ironed out. So watch the local news for a time and date when you can see the wonderful facility with your own two eyes.

We held a ribbon cutting ceremony for Ambercare this week. Ambercare is doing so well and growing so much they needed more space. In the last year they have grown to over 30 local employees. This is just another great success story for Grant County. We were happy to be a part of the Open House - Ribbon Cutting celebration for their new location at 1290 East 32nd Street, across from Gila Regional Medical Center in Silver City. As the Chamber of Commerce Board Chairman stated, we hope we have to hold another ceremony next yearGǪ in an even larger location because Ambercare continues to grow.

The Chamber of Commerce likes sharing great news about our community. I hope you like what you have read in this edition. If so, please share the wonderful news. If not, well call our chamber office and leave a message on our voicemail system. It is simply machinery that has no feelings, so if talking to the machine will make you feel betterGǪ the number is 575-538-3785. Call the Chamber of Commerce any time you have questions, comments, need a telephone number or you are just bored and want to chat for a minute or two. Our voicemail is always open.