Silver City MainStreet & Arts and Cultural District
Community Collaboration Meeting Minutes
May 5, 2022
Attendees: Lucy Whitmarsh, Allyson Siwik, Peter Fishburn, Patty Reed, Tony Thompson, Bryan Hyde, Lillian Galloway, Marcus Hanson, Karen Beckenbach, Bernadette Smyth Kristen Warnack, Eric Ockerhansen, Marcus Hanson, Kenneth Ladner, Ted Presler, David Chapman, Brenda Tozier, and Charmeine Wait.
Guest Presenter: Bernadette Smyth Grant County Community Foundation
We received three grants in April and another closed May 1 from the 30Something.
Give Grandly – Steven and Mary at the Future Forge have been working to get the event ready at the Maker’s Market this Saturday May 7 from 9am-2pm. Andrea stayed on as president with Betty doing advertising and Rhonda working the social media. The community stepped up to collaborate to get this ready. This year received funds for a $500 matching fund for each non-profit participating. Fastest way to get the money to the non-profit is to make it directly to them, which is reported to Give Grandly. You can also pay online at givegrandly.org Marcus interviewed all the non-profits and it will be playing May7 from 9am-2pm. Grant County Community Foundation is also a non-profit you can donate to. These donations to the non-profits can be used for projects or for operating costs. 100% of the funds go to the foundation you donate to. Received very large grant from the Line Berry Foundation that will go to organizations such as the Future Forge. Grant County Community Foundation can also help you organize your funds and you can even will funds to be donated to the area that you choose. More info can be found at grantcountycommunityfoundation.org or email them at grantcountycommunityfoundation@gmail.com
MainStreet Report:
Brenda – We have a new program called Kick-Ass Entrepreneurs which is a storytelling event from local businesses as well as a networking opportunity for new and existing businesses to partner and share ideas. This is starting in June on the 2nd Wednesday of each month. June 8th will be our first storyteller, The Jerky Store & More from 5:30pm to 7:30pm at the Little Toad Creek Brewery. All are welcome to come. Like our new Facebook page to see each month’s events - https://www.facebook.com/KickAssEntrepreneursSilverCity
Charmeine –Give Grandly will be virtual but we will be at the Maker’s Market in the morning.
Make and Take will start back up May 14 and will be every second Saturday of the month while the Maker’s Market is open. Sally Tilton from the SCAA will be teaching out to make a beautiful feather and Danielle Romero from the WNMU Museum will be there with some artifacts.
Downtown Passports are available to go and visit different stores and get a $5 MainStreet Gift Certificate. Passports picked up at the Visitor’s Center.
We are also working on an Outdoor Trails+ grant for Lion’s Park improvements and a grant from NM Resiliency Alliance grant for entry into the MainStreet Plaza.
Silco Theatre Report: Charmeine – Silco Gala is Wednesday, May 11 and is almost sold out. There is a summer program every Thursday at 1PM for kids movies that is only $2. Many events are going on at the Silco that there is now an events page https://thesilcotheater.com/home/events/. Check it out and join in the fun.
Visitor Center Report: David – For our visitor center our daily average was about 60 visitors per day in April and the total for the month was 1,791. The tour of Gila and the CDT Trail days did bring in people. In fact, our visitor count for the Saturday of the CDT Trail Day was just about equal to the number in 2019. In addition to the official Trail Day, we identified at least 76 thru-hikers coming into our visitor center in April. We feel that this is a positive, showing that our hikers are interested in our town, and we hope they will return to visit with their family and friends.
Our new bird feeder has become very popular and Charmeine with some volunteers planted more native pollinator plants in our gardens.
Speaking of volunteers, if you or someone you know would like to spend some time with us, there are several opportunities. Not only can one work inside the visitor center, but can work in our gardens, or help out at the SILCO or MainStreet’s make and take table at the makers mart or just be available for special events. Anyone interested can come in and talk to one of us.
We continue to be a source of information for visitors and residents. One of the challenges is getting the information from businesses and organizations. So please help remind everyone you know that would like to promote what they are doing to bring us flyers, brochures or post their events on our visitsilvercity.org calendar.
Thank you. I hope everyone has a great month of May!
If anyone has any questions or ideas about anything let me know! David at david@visitsilvercity.org. If you have any events please add them to visitsilvercity.org
Discussion:
Mayor Ken Ladner – Thank you everyone for what you do for the community and planning all these events.
Monday meeting with the Mayor will be from 8am-11am at Wolfgrounds Coffee Shop located north of the MainStreet Plaza. Appreciate all the suggestions received and implemented such as the Toss no Mas program, the 3rd Saturday Clean-up program, and the trails committee for the Boston Hill and San Vicente trails. Another suggestions that is being worked on is a nuisance law that would clean up buildings that have been burned down or neglected. Thank you to Charmeine for her vision for Downtown and all that she does.
Karen Beckenbach GCCCA – Tuesday was the last concert of the season and it was a great turn out for Yjastros Flamenco. The outreach program on Tuesday for the kids was great and many want to go to ABQ to the summer Flamenco camp.
Next Season Early bird tickets are now on sale for $50. Early bird tickets end June 30. An additional band has been added to the season on Friday August 26 Billy Townes Jazz Quartet who was the pianist from the Diamonds Let’s Rock Broadway show. www.gcconcerts.org
Three new board members have been added to the group and are very thankful for them.
Tony Thompson Gila Regional Medical Center – May 19 at 2PM in the entry of hospital they will have an event to celebrate the grant from the USDA. Patricia Dominguez along with US Senators and Representatives will be there. They also just received a Patient Safety Excellence award for being in the top 10% of great patient care/treatment. Great team effort from all.
Lucy Whitmarsh Murray Hotel – Working on community outreach to encourage groups to utilize the ballroom 2000 sq. feet flexible space This Saturday from 9am-3pm the Friends of Clay, a WNMU ceramics program, will have their fundraiser at the Murray Ballroom. Come out to support ceramics at the university. Phone 575-956-9400 Option 2 or email sales@murray-hotel.com
Patty Reed Advisory Board at WILL – Western Institute for Lifelong Learning WILL is having their Annual Meeting on May 19th where we will be filling members in our last year and future years at WILL. What I have to say to all these wonderful organizations is "It is great we all survived 2 years of COVID separation. Well done!"
You can contact Patty at pjreed60@gmail.com and learn more at https://www.will.community/
Eric Ockerhausen Grant County Art Guild - The Grant County Art Guild has several events in May, starting with our “May is for the Birds’ window theme for the month. Our artists will be featuring birds of all kinds with a focus on Ravens.
We will also be a part of the Silver City Art Association First Friday gallery walk on Friday, May 6, and will be open until 7 pm. We will be doing this through December. This walk is from 5 to 7 PM the first Friday of every month from May through December and will include all the Silver City Art Association downtown galleries.
The SCAA downtown galleries will also be having an art walk from 10 to 2 PM on the Sunday of Memorial Day Weekend during the Blues Festival. We are open from 10 to 5 PM every day, but it will be good to have additional downtown businesses open that Sunday.
Saturday, May 7, we are hosting a free drop-in Mother’s Day workshop in the Annex from 10 to 5 pm. People can drop in, paint a rock, make a card, and wrap a rock to hold the card. Do one, two, or all three. Everything is supplied by the Art Guild. The event is free but we will accept donations to support our educational outreach.
Our big event for May is the four-day mini-vacation Plein Air Painting Workshop by Gay Scheibl from Monday, May 23 to Thursday, May 26. This event starts with an optional session for beginners, moves to paint downtown architecture, distance landscapes, and ends at the Gila Hot Springs to paint the Gila River and then soak in the hot springs. For details go to gcag.org
Last month we had “Sunflowers for Ukraine” to raise money for Ukraine. Sales from the work in one window went to the fund and we took cash donations. We will be sending a check to Chef Jose Andres and his World Central Kitchen for over 1,100 dollars. The Grant County Art Guild would like to thank everyone who helped to feed the people in Ukraine. Thank you, artists, customers, and people who put money in the donation jar.
The Grant County Art Association has more events in June so please check out our website at gcag.org or stop in the Gallery every day from 10 am to 5 pm.
Ted Presler Southwest Word Fiesta Co-Chair – They celebrate the written and spoken word and help to improve literacy for kids. February was Creative voices and April did a reading of voices of Ukraine. October 2023 will be the next fiesta so stay tuned. They are looking at keeping a hybrid version since it was very successful with 23 states participating and 7 countries.
Bryan Hyde Design Committee and SC MainStreet Board member – is working on rebranding Silco and MainStreet. Volunteered to help with graphic design work for the blues Festival. May 28th will be at Gough Park and there will be live music the 27th and 28th in the evening and Sunday brunch with music at the Little Toad Creek Brewery. He also works with the Marketplace on Bullard who sells his t-shirts and prints. He also does occasionally take on work as a graphic designer at Bryan Hyde Design.
Allyson Siwik wearing many hats - 18th Annual Gila River Festival will be September 22-25 and there will be field trips, presentations, workshops. On the 24th there will be Apache dancers and so much more. gilariverfestival.org
Gila Resources Information Project started in 2018 and will be have the next clean up on May 28 from 9am-1pm. Received a Clean and Beautiful grant to do a one minute video that is airing at the Silco for the Toss no Mas program. Also on May 28 there is a presentation by Susan Berry on the Big Ditch Park before the Blues Festival at the Silco. They are finishing up the Big Ditch Park clean-up project and are at the planting stage with the help of Aldo Leopold Youth Conservation Corps. A Grant from 30Something was completed to help with drainage. Received an award to do a stewardship project in San Vicente to fix sewer lines to protect surface water quality.
Silver City Watershed summer camps in June for 4 weeks from 9am-3pm. First 2 weeks will be in Big Ditch and last 2 weeks at the Bayard Public Library. This program gets kids involved and outside. More info and registration at:https://silvercitywatershedkeepers.org/index.html
Marcus Hanson Manager at KURU/GMRC – Thank you all for the help with the Give Grandly interviews.
Lillian Galloway Silver City Public Library - Summer reading program with activities for all ages and in person. Earn points for going to events and self-paces reading to earn prizes. Clay Play in July and Tuesday/Thursday crafts with a theme of Oceans. Open mic, future engineers and more. May 31 in Penny Park will be a Foam party. Library to have a concert at the Silco on May 10 at 4:30pm.
Kristen Warnack Little Toad Brewery – Southside of the wall has been painted in prep for a mural that will begin in June.
Lots of great music.
May 15 is the 10-year anniversary party with three musical acts.
Blues Festival will have music each night and a brunch with music on Sunday. If you know of good staff that is looking please send them her way.
5/11: Trivia (7-9)*
5/12: Karaoke (8-11)
5/13: Jason Dea West (8-11)
Jason Dea West is an American troubadour who sings what he lives and lives what he sings. West’s poignant lyrics are brilliantly blended with vintage country, folk and blues, and timely sensibilities. From epic guitar and harmonica instrumentals to humorous song as story, Jason never strays very far from the anarchic punk-folk roots of his beloved former band Barefoot Surrender and his celebrated current band Intuitive Compass.
5/14: Little Toad Ten-Year Anniversary Party
Flicker, A One-Man Band (2-4)
Dick Van Dyke from Marry Poppins meets the corpse of Elvis Presley. You never knew you could bang your head to one accordion and 13 limbs of fury! Flicker is real!
Soulshine (5-8)
Ray Johnson and Rico Smith, two southerners who now call New Mexico home, came together in 2004 with former member (but still a brother) Matt Bridges, to form Soulshine. Soulshine blends country, blues, soul, classic rock, and pop to brew what they call "Southern Fried Folk."
Kas, Michele, Billy & Jesse (8-11)
Silver City’s own Kas Nelson, Michele Parlee, and Billy Jack Dominguez team up with Nashville fiddle player Jesse Stockton to provide a night of dance music in a variety of styles, including Motown, blues, country, and swing.
5/18: Trivia (7-9)*
5/19: Karaoke (8-11)
5/20: Compás (8-11)
Compás returns in trio form after a long break to play originals as well as some favorite ethnic songs from around the globe. With their different musical backgrounds, band members Andrew Dahl-Bredine, Michele Parlee, and Peter Dahl-Bredine combine musical elements and genres in a rhythm-inspired way.
5/21: Rendezvous (8-11)
Live covers from the icons of rock 'n' roll history: The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, Grand Funk, Tom Petty, The Rolling Stones, and much more ...
5/22: The March Divide (1-4)
Being able to laugh at yourself is one of the tenants of comedy, and (The March Divide’s) Jared Putnam’s greatest strength has always been to take his everyman, self-effacing character and wrap it in urgent melodies backed by just-slick-enough production to draw you in and keep you there. It’s why over the years music critics have called his songs “impressively hooky” (American Songwriter) with “classic pop hooks” (The Big Takeover) where his “pop sensibility comes entirely to the forefront” (Under The Radar).
5/25: Trivia (7-9)*
5/26: Karaoke (8-11)
*Beginning May 4, Trivia will be on Wednesday instead of Tuesday.
Virus Theatre – Auditions on May 18 and 19 and a 4-week program in June/July.
Peter Fishburn Community Member and great Volunteer – Volunteers with MainStreet, the Commons, and End of the Road Horse Ranch.
Bart Roselli Director Silver City Museum – We have two new staff members. Marcus Hanson who will help with PR and fundraising. Sara Zamora is the new Community Engagement Manager who will work on Marketing and fundraising.
May 21 will be at the Silco with WILL for the history of Economic Segregation. Summer program of expression of culture through food, objects we use every day, and stories/folklore. There will be a speaker, panel, and community engagement.
Exhibit Booms and Busts of 1880-1950.
Has a school partnership with Silver Consolidated to develop livelier Social Study classes with museum artifacts.
Next meeting will be Thursday, June 2, 2022 at 9am, invitation to follow the week before.
Meeting adjourned