While the fate of the annual Iola Area Chamber Business Expo has been decided, a new event is in the works.
Chamber Director Carol Sager has canceled the Expo scheduled for Saturday.
Sager said although area businesses expressed interest, only 14 vendors secured spots. The Expo committee also wanted to have a food booth, but no such vendors stepped forward.
“I sent out over 100 invitations in the mail, and then also contacted people personally and I contacted people personally though Facebook,” Sager said. “I contacted people through email, through phone calls and voicemails.”
Without at least 25 reserved spots, the show should not move forward, Sager said was the consensus of board members. Her theory for the weak response is the ease of online shopping.
“It may be something we won’t do anymore,” Sager said.
Although its future looks bleak, Sager said she is not quite ready to consider its demise a foregone conclusion.
“We may try at the end of this year to send out some sort of newsletter or email blast asking Chamber members and business people in our community what they would like to see if we do an Expo again,” Sager said.
In the meantime, she said talks are in the works for a May 6 downtown celebration. The celebration, according to Sager, would mark the halfway point between the start of the year and Farm City Days and emphasize downtown shopping with Mother’s Day and graduation in mind. It will model the “Spirit of Christmas Downtown” event held in December.
“I have spoken to a couple of downtown business owners,” Sager said about interest in such an event. She said more planning will take place after the Chamber’s annual meeting, March 17.
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