Attendees: Kendra Milligan, Bart Roselli, Ted Presler, Rhonda Munzinger, Allyson Siwik, Lucy Whitmarsh, Marcia and Bryan Hyde, Kitty Clemens, David Chapman, and Charmeine Wait.
Guest Presenter: Kendra Milligan, Silver City Daily Press/The Independent – The Independent has been around since 1896 and just had its125th newsaversary. The Independent is Free and circulates 6,000 copies with a minimum of 16 full color pages. They recently won 1st place for the Best Supplement/Special Addition, 2nd place for Best Photo Series, and 1st place for Advertising. They have two types of distribution-651 locations distributed throughout Grant County and Deming and the first Wednesday of the month an insert to SCDPI advertising Arts, Entertainment, and the Outdoors. Their online web version has an online calendar of events. Do not forget to send a picture for this free listing that also is used by SCDPI journalists.
The 15th is the deadline of the month prior and you can contact Kendra at kendra@insilvercity.com or 575-313-3031 to get your information in the paper. If possible, do it earlier so that they can do interviews to really boost the information.Stop by the Silver City Daily press to enter for a shelf of books about Silver City.
MainStreet Report: Charmeine – Thank you to everyone who made it possible to have beautiful decorations downtown and the Lighted Christmas Parade.
We have three Clean and Beautiful Grants. In spring, the Visitor Center will have plants, irrigation, and bird, butterfly, and bee interpretation stations for Tourists and Locals. Carlos Callejo did a mural on New Mexico Folk Art on the side of Encore. And, across the street from Encore we have our 3rd project in the parking lot to change the rain water to water the trees and a pergola for the rose tree that make it look a lot nicer.
We just received a grant from Freeport McMoRan Foundation to put in lights in the Big Ditch.
Silco Theatre Report: Charmeine - Silco Theatre opened in October and has been showing movies for the past 3 weeks. We will be going after capital outlay funds to improve the space.
Visitor Center Report: David – In November the visitation was lower than October. We had 1,052 guests compared to 1,490 in November of 2019, which is about 24% lower. The electric charging station should be fixed in the afternoon of December 3. There are many grants and incentives to install these machines as it affects visitor's decisions on coming here. Get with David to get information if you would like to install one at your hotel, the college, or any big business.
The lobby has been decorated for the holidays. There is one tree that promotes MainStreet Gift Certificates, a tree from the arts community, and a hat tree from Silver City Knitters for those in need of a hat.
Discussion:
Bryan and Marcia Hyde – They have been helping with all the events going on and you can find Silver City T-shirts at the Silver City Marketplace.
Bart Roselli Silver City Museum - The Museum is working on a new version of the Victorian Christmas, which will be outdoors on Saturday, December 11. They are planning to start out at 11AM at the Silco with a presentation from Diana Molina describing how the Virgin of Guadalupe has been used. Then over to the museum for an outside event of music, hot chocolate, cookies, and La Bonita will be there with tamales. There will be a puppet show and activities for the kids. On February 12 is the Territorial Charter day and the museum will have an event at the ballroom at the Murray Hotel.
Rhonda Munzinger Silver City Arts Association – Excited to see all events held this year and they were better than ever. They now have a board of seven people with three chairs to organize their committees. Really enjoyed the Fiercely Independent chaired by Sally Tilton and Karen Hymer. They are looking at doing a float for next years Lighted Christmas Parade.
Allyson Siwik The Silver City Watershed Keepers – They have had two successful trash clean ups with partnerships from the Town of Silver City, SC Recycle, SC Waste, and SWNMACT. The 3rd Saturday of every month is the cleanup events. Any organization can plug in to help with a cleanup, adopt a median, or adopt a waterway.
NM Clean and Beautiful grants, the Outdoor Recreation Plus Grant, and a grant from 30 Something is allowing them to build rain gardens on the steep slope in the Big Ditch. JB working with youth on a project. Tree work and drainage issues from Lyons Park to the Big Ditch, towards the walkway will happen in January.
On December 18 they will be maintaining and cleaning trails on the San Vicente Creek.
March 26, 2022, World Water Day, they will be planting pollinator gardens and looking for volunteers.
April 23, 2022, Earth Day, will have events in Gough Park and community projects. For more information go to silvercitywatershedkeepers.org
Ted Presler Southwest Word Fiesta –They had a great Fiesta with over 800 participants from 22 states as well as out of the country (Ireland, Mexico, Germany, India, UK, and Argentina) and 40 authors. This hybrid version was great and went very smoothly. They are looking to expand their exposure internationally as well adding in audio and journalism to the fiesta (not just books).
JJ Wilson will be stepping down and taking over the Mimbres Press. They will be re-organizing and looking for volunteers. presrub@gmail.com
Lucy Whitmarsh Murray Hotel – Guests are very excited about the outdoor activities and they are seeing a return of cycling/hiking groups. Groups are asking about walking tours and if you have any information please reach out to Lucy at 575-956-9400.
They have a function room that is 2,500 sq. ft. with windows that open if you are looking for a venue.
Kitty Clemens SW NM Council of Governments – Working on the Prospectors meeting today. They are using direct mail to recruit future entrepreneurs in Hidalgo and Luna Counties. They are rebuilding their website as well. Via the American Recovery Plan, they are working with the Village of Columbus to Build Back Better via the Grant.
If you have any high quality photos please send them to add to their archives for newsletters and their website.
Looking at adding on to the Co-Starters group by adding a day where Kitty will be regularly at the Bayard Public Library to help people with resume writing and interview skills and maybe a class on how to look for a job via a smart phone and possibly a job fair. They are open to ideas/suggestion.
Eric Ockerhausen Grant County Art Guild – The Love Local Tax-Free Day helped make November a very good month for the Gallery. Their artists donated 16 pieces of art for the Love Local drawing and a lot of people stopped in to shop and sign up for a chance to win. Thanksgiving weekend went well for the guild
The Grant County Art Guild Annex had two pop-ups and the Artisan Market Thanksgiving weekend and they reported good foot traffic and sales as well. The Artisan Market only has a few spaces available in December. Anyone interested should contact annex@gcag.org to reserve a space.
December 20-21-22 (Monday-Wednesday) the gallery is holding a three-day school break workshop for kids 6 to 12. "We have several interesting projects for them to work on: wood-burning coat rack/key holder, painted tiles, paintbrush people, cards, wrapping paper, and more." The event is from 9 to 12 in the Grant County Art Guild Annex. This is a free workshop but you need to register and have a firm reservation to attend. If you know a child that might be interested please contact annex@gcag.org for information. The guild will be following the state's Covid safe practices for this workshop.
Every second and fourth Thursday the Annex holds the Open Studio for area artists to stop in, work on a project, share ideas, and learn new techniques. The Open Studio is from 10 to 1 and has a suggested donation of 5 dollars. People do not need to sign up just drop in.
"We are looking forward to good December sales and think 2022 will be a good year for us as we try to build on 2021,"Ockerhausen said.
Meeting adjourned