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Snyder High School DECA students Sara McClain (left) and Lucero Rodriguez presented their Plug Into Snyder campaign to the Snyder Chamber of Commerce board of directors Monday night. The campaign includes brochures, information packets and social media pages to inform visitors and new residents about what Snyder has to offer.
The Snyder Chamber of Commerce board of directors awarded $12,340 in hotel occupancy tax (HOT) funds during Monday night’s meeting.
The Scurry County Museum received the full amount of its $2,340 request for Chocolate Fest, an annual fundraiser that includes chocolate, wine, art and live music.
“We’re really pushing to have about 140 to 150 guests this year,” Museum Director Daniel Schlegel Jr. said.
Western Texas College (WTC) also received the full amount of its request for $10,000 for April’s National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA) Rodeo.
“We have more contestants than ever, and the region is growing,” WTC rodeo coach Greg Rhodes said. “We’re the biggest region in the United States with 16 schools, and our facility is the nicest in the region, if not the nation.”
Rhodes said the three-day event makes a positive economic impact in the community.
“The rodeo brings people into the community, and the way we have the rodeo scheduled is for the purpose of getting people into the community,” he said. “It comes back to the support of the community. The community supports us, so we try to support them.”
After hearing HOT fund requests, the board discussed and approved a HOT fund committee to hear future HOT fund requests. Committee members are Jason Cave, Barbara Beebe and Vipul Patel.
“HOT funds have always been quarterly, and we want them to be quarterly,” board chairwoman Hope Heaton said. “We would have a HOT funds committee who would meet and hear requests and report back to the board for approval.”
Chamber President/Chief Executive Officer Linda Molina said the committee will reduce the amount of time spent discussing HOT funds during future board meetings. The committee will go into effect in March.
Snyder High School DECA students Sara McClain and Lucero Rodriguez also presented a campaign to the board. DECA’s Plug Into Snyder campaign promotes Snyder with information packets, brochures and social media pages.
“Earlier this year, Linda (Molina) showed us a product, the Abilene visitor’s guide,” McClain said. “She asked us to design something based off of the guide, so we connected all of the things that represent Snyder and produced a packet.”
The packet includes information about the history, entertainment, hotels and restaurants in Snyder that would be helpful to visitors and new residents.
“Here in Snyder, there’s a lot to do, but people don’t know it,” Rodriguez said. “If the city knows what to do in Snyder, other people will know what to do.”
The annual chamber banquet has been scheduled for April 26 at 6 p.m. The theme will be Survey Says a take on the television show Family Feud. Banquet attendees will have the opportunity to play and answer questions in a format similar to the game show.
The board also approved the 2018 revised proposed budget.