The Mineral County Chamber of Commerce is hosting a membership drive on November 9 starting at 6 p.m. in the upstairs area/convention center of El Capitan. The event is free to current members and future 2024 members, and the event includes a buffet, first drink is free, silent auction, and a Deal or No Deal game to win door prizes. The event will also feature special guest Kyle Isom, Mineral County director of recreation, community development, parks, and tourism.
“Kyle will probably talk about what his departments are planning for 2024. We’re starting to have ball tournaments here that will bring in overnight visitors, and he may talk about the kayak races he had at Walker Lake…we had a table, were at checkpoints out in the water, and donated $400 in prize money at the event,” MC Chamber of Commerce Secretary Bea Whitney says.
The Chamber donated $50 to the Walker Lake Working Group in July 2023 and $400 in prize money to the first annual Kayak Races put on by Mineral County at Walker Lake this past September.
Home of the annual Armed Forces Day celebration, the Chamber also helps raise money for the Big Flag, maintaining the Cecil float, and provide a scholarship fund for Mineral County students.
It fundraises for the Chamber’s Scholarship Fund and helps create internships and jobs for students; the Chamber gave a $250 scholarship to a graduating senior in May 2023. It also supports the Big Flag project to replace flags that are ready to be honorably retired, purchase materials for flag repairs and offers an honorarium to the seamstress who volunteers to repair them. The Chamber donated $1,000 to the Committee towards the purchase of a new flag in March 2023.
It also supports the Cecil the Sea Serpent float and works toward building the much-loved Native American legend and county mascot a permanent home with a workshop to keep him in tip-top shape so that he can represent Mineral County farther from home than Carson City.
The Chamber has been around for years, but unfortunately lost its Board President to cancer right before covid and then had to cease doing business due to the pandemic. The 2021 Armed Forces Day celebration was the first Chamber-supported event to return followed by the highly successful AFD 2022 celebration. In 2023, AFD became its own 501 (C)(6) non-profit organization, allowing donations to be deductible and grants to be written to support the event. The Chamber continues to support the event through advertising on its website where it showcases a history of Armed Forces Day and a special section for the ongoing exhibit “Always Lost: A Meditation On War” at the local VFW.
The Chamber works to help new and existing Mineral County residents and businesses navigate through the county’s growth period and boost the economic vitality of the area by partnering with local businesses to help with educational programs and jobs workshops; promote open positions through the Chamber’s website; and support existing tourism events and create new ones.
The way that the Chamber did this in 2023 was by hosting a jobs workshop on March 31 (helping job seekers create effective resumes, practice interviewing and dress for success) with the Mineral County parks and recreation department as well as the hospital’s HR, and it donated $200 in back-to-school supplies for the Community Chest’s Community Resource Fair held in August.
“The Community Chest is very involved in helping us; their staff is amazing. We’re going to plan another one with the schools in 2024,” Whitney says.
The Chamber also works with the Sierra Arts Foundation to provide arts in education and community art classes and is a stakeholder in the Community Chest acquisition of the Historic 6th Street School for use as an early childhood education and community arts center.
This is the second year that the El Capitan has helped sponsor the MCNV Chamber Membership Drive Shindig. The silent auction will include a solar light tube and free installation anywhere in Mineral County valued at $1,500 from the Peterson family (the starting bid starts at $500), driftwood candleholders made by a local business, and donations from David and Maryknoll Bowen of Bizarre 101. Businesses are also welcome to donate a door prize for the Deal or No Deal game; feel free to drop off your door prize donation to Chamber President Gloria Lopez at Bodies at Work, 565 E St, Monday–Friday, 5–11 a.m., 3–8 p.m.
Individual memberships start at $35/year and the Mineral County Chamber of Commerce can only accept new membership payments via check at this time. Email your RSVP to info@chambermineralcountynv.org, call Chamber Board President Gloria Lopez at 775-945-0561, or visit www.chambermineralcountynv.org for more information.
“Mineral County is the last outback in Northwest Nevada. The Chamber is ready to seize the moment and take advantage of the incredible growth headed our way. It’s Mineral County’s turn and we must get it right. Please join the Mineral County Chamber of Commerce today,” the Chamber President’s letter states.
