There’s an Elephant in the Living

Room!

I was told the story this past week of a young family, the Smith’s, that had a 1100 square foot home in Chesaning. The house is very well maintained. All things seem very “normal”. One day, Tommy, the 5 year old son, brought home a rather un-usual pet. He brought home a new- born baby elephant; Dumbo II, he named him, II for short. II had his own corner of the living room he called home. At first all was fine, II keep to himself and only occasionally needed attention. The Smith’s got very accus-tom to II but, sooner than later, II got bigger and bigger. It seemed that the lifestyle of the Smith’s finally began evolving around II. It finally came to the point where the Smith’s could no longer live in their home with II. He had grown to the point where the Smith’s couldn’t even sit and watch tv in the living room because they could not see around II. They were totally consumed with Dumbo II. It was very evident at our board meeting Thursday that we have been over taken with the attitude of US vs. THEM. Our own Dumbo II. He has taken over the mindset of Chesaning!At first this mindset was kind of a novel idea just to know what others were doing in our village and cause a little friendly competition. For the past few years, several of us have been fighting hard core to throw Dumbo II out of the house. Then out of nowhere he came back in with vengeance.

It is way past time to get the ele-phant out of the living room and move on, and until we do, we will not see any future growth in our community. I know, I know, strong words from a guy that is supposed to bring a positive and upbeat message each month. Person-ally, I am way tired of meeting after meeting discussing “us vs. them”! Move on, gang, or watch one of the greatest small towns in Mid-Michigan wither up and die. On a more upbeat topic, the bridge work has begun. Has anyone seen Gewirtz’s FaceBook posts? Way to make lemonade out of lemons, guys... a featured product –offering based on the number of days of bridge construc-tion. Great idea! Did you hear that Howard and Denise were given a huge award from their headquarters at Re-max? Call and ask them about it. See you at the light waiting to cross the bridge.

Randy

Randall D. Stoddard, President Chesaning Chamber of Commerce Call me with any concerns or ideas! 845-2183 office 798-2263 cell randy@stoddardhomes.com

The President’s Corner

1-800-255-3055 ~ 989-845-3055

info@chesaningchamber.org March 2016

Monthly

Business

Connection

Welcome to our

newest Board of

Directors member,

Cindy Tejkl,

Manager at the

Chesaning branch

of Community

State Bank!

Inside this issue:

Chamber News 2

Welcome New

Members! 2

Lenten, Easter &

Spring Events 2

Celebrating

Anniversaries 3

Chamber Golf Outing 4

April Calendar 4

Community Events 5

Chesaning

Chamber of Commerce

Board of Directors

Randy Stoddard, President

Stoddard Homes

Greg Bruff,

Vice President Waddell & Reed

Jessie Woods,

Secretary Sovis Insurance

Steve Keck, Treasurer H&R Block

Ron Ebenhoeh Metro Mortgage

Tom Lavery

CenturyLink

Bobbi McIntyre

Studio 124

Jami Meyer

Meyer Electric Inc

Ron Poyer

H&R Block

Shawn Sloan

Sloan’s Septic Service

Anne Swartzmiller Swartzmiller Lumber

Cindy Tejkl

Community State Bank

Kate Weber Executive Director

The dedicated members of the Chesaning Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors are hard at work on several pro-jects benefiting the Chesaning community and supporting the Chamber mission. In-cluded in these projects is our spring fund-raiser for the Chamber: the April 16th Scrap-book Crop (see page 5 for details). On May 22nd, the Annual Chamber Golf Outing will be held with proceeds funding two Chamber Scholarships awarded to Chesaning seniors (see page 4 for more information).

Also in May, we look forward to the

much anticipated Town-Wide Attic Sales on

Memorial Day weekend (see page 6 for pre-

liminary information). As in years past, local

residents always look forward to these an-

nual garage/yard and sidewalk sales.

Have you checked out the Chamber web-

site recently at www.chesaning cham-

ber.org? We are working hard to make sure

your information is up-to-date with active

links to your business and organization web

pages and email addresses. Let Kate know if

there are any corrections to be made.

What the Chamber is Working On For You

Chesaning Area Lenten, Easter & Spring Events

Welcome, New Member: AFS-USA, Inc Mid-Michigan Chapter

February

Chamber Statistics:

We received

85 Phone Calls,

424 Emails &

91 Visitors

Page 2 March 2016

We are pleased to announce our newest Associate member, the Mid-Michigan Chap-ter of AFS-USA, Inc! One of six AFS Michigan Team chapters, this group of dedicated vol-unteers support the mission of AFS-USA, working “toward a more just and peaceful world by providing international and intercul-tural learning experiences to individuals, families, schools, and communities through a global volunteer partnership.”

This academic year, the Michigan Team is supporting 75 international exchange stu-dents as well as 17 students from Michigan

who have traveled abroad on a variety of short and long programs. Locally, they have 1 student hosted in Chesaning schools, 6 stu-dents hosted in the New Lothrop school dis-trict and 2 in Corunna.

Jessica Andres, coordinator of the Mid-Michigan chapter, is excited to be a part of the Chesaning Chamber and plans to take advantage of member benefits such as board room rental for occasional team meetings.

Thank you for joining the Chesaning Chamber of Commerce; we look forward to working with your organization!

Broad Street Pharmacy:

Free Pictures with the Easter Bunny, Saturday, March 12th, 10am-1pm

Trinity United Methodist Church activities:

Free Community Supper, Saturday, March 12, 5-7pm

Maundy Thursday, March 24 at 7pm

Good Friday Service, March 25 at 1pm For more information, call 989-845-3157

2016 Spring Events at St. Peter Parish: (in the Parish Hall at 404 S Wood St, Chesaning)

Lenten Mission “Rekindling the Fire” with Fr. Jack Conley, CP. Sun-Wed, March 13-16 at 6pm.

Spring Fling Bingo, Sun, April 3rd , 6pm. For more information, call 989-845-1798.

Chesaning Lions Club activities:

Easter Egg Hunt, Ages 1-11, Sat. March 26, Hunt begins at 10am at Showboat Park. Bicycle give-away plus other prizes!

For more information, call 989-295-1916

Chesaning Bible Baptist Church activities:

Nights of Illusions, Mar. 20-23, 6:30-8pm

Easter Egg Hunt, Sat. March 26 registra-tion at 11:30, Hunt at noon

For more information, call 989-323-0604

Christ Lutheran Church activities:

Easter Egg Hunt at Christ Lutheran Park, Sat. March 26 at 10:30am, Free!

Living History presented by grades K-8, April 8 from 6:30-8:30pm at School, Free

For more information, call 989-845-2600

"If you are not willing to risk the usual, you will have to settle for the ordinary." - Jim Rohn

Congratulations to

Edward Jones for

being ranked #10

on FORTUNE

Magazine’s 100

Best Companies to

Work For 2016 List.

The financial

services firm is on

the list for the 17th

year, says Douglas

Moeggenborg ,

Chesaning financial

advisor.

M-57 Surplus Celebrates a Quarter of a Century, Too!

Happy 25th Anniversary to Designs by Bean!

Page 3 March 2016

Our community recently lost a great busi-ness leader, Rich Greenfelder, whose children have carried on his legacy of entrepreneur-ship with the creation of their own local ven-tures. In the mid-1980’s, Rich bought an apartment building next to his Chesaning Ace Hardware store which would later become the location of Designs by Bean and Greenfelder Law Office. Rich’s strong work ethic and business acumen were passed on to his children, including Mike and Kris (A.K.A. Bean), as well as his daughter-in-law, Laura, who would combine their sewing and silk-screening talents to create Designs by Bean.

Mike would eventually buy out both Laura and Kris to become the sole owner of the store. His younger sister, Ann, joined him 21 years ago as an embroidery and digitizing specialist. Meghan Korf rounds out their full-time staff having been with Bean for 13 years and lending her own talent with vinyl, subli-mation and office work, as well as custom artwork. The Designs by Bean team also in-cludes one or two part-time employees at all times. They are a close-knit crew, sharing lunch together every day as well as free time

outside of work. Meghan states “working at Bean is the best job I ever had. Each person here is like family to me”.

Designs by Bean offers printing, which is all done in-house on equipment stored above Ace Hardware. Mike does most of the screen printing himself with a labor-intensive manual press, one shirt at a time, pulling the ink through a screen similar to a small screen door. Bean also has 13 heads for in-house embroidery and offers full color sublimation for many items including mugs, shot glasses, key chains, lanyards, dog tags, phone cases, picture frames and much more. They offer decals, window clings and photo transfers and can print framed photo canvas up to 16”x20”. No job is too big or too small; they recently embroidered 13,000 seat backs for the new Barclays center where the Brooklyn Nets play! They ship all over the USA. Bean also has a large retail store offering blank and printed garments and products.

Meghan offered this fun fact: their logo is not a moon as you might think, but is a green bean, of course! We wish everyone at Designs by Bean the best in the years to come!

A family-owned company, M-57 Surplus was established in 1991 by Eugene and Peggy Ruhl. Six months after opening, their daugh-ter and son-in-law, Wayne and Roberta Hasse, bought into the business and became partners. Since 1991, it has been passed down three generations as two of Wayne and Roberta’s children, Andrew Hasse and Amanda Escamilla, are now running the busi-ness.

M-57 Surplus carries a large variety of items; there’s something for everyone! Their merchandise includes tarps, tools, scrap-booking/craft supplies, hunting/fishing sup-plies, paint, rope, lawn mower blades, and so much more! In October, 2012, a 50’ x 100’ building was added onto the Chesaning loca-tion, now giving them 6,600 square feet of retail space.

In 2007, they decided to expand their family business a little more and opened a

second M-57 Surplus location at 10425 E. Carson City Rd (M-57) in Carson City, MI. This location is operated by Wayne and Roberta’s other daughter and son-in-law, Tanya and Justin Carroll.

M-57 Surplus is grateful for every one of their customers who have supported them and helped their business grow to what it is today. Whether you are out of state, out of town, or local, your business at M-57 Surplus does not go unappreciated!

Come visit them at 9985 E. Peet Road (M-57) in Chesaning (at “the curve” on the east side of town)! They are open 7 days a week! For business hours, call 989-845-3178 and for updates, check them out on Facebook.

The Chesaning Chamber of Commerce wishes M-57 Surplus a very happy business anniversary and hopes to see continued suc-cess and growth for your business in the years to come! Congratulations!

"If you really look closely, most overnight successes took a long time." - Steve Jobs

Community Calendar

Coming in May: Annual Scholarship Golf Outing

Page 4 March 2016

Would you like to add a community event, open house, grand opening or other business celebration or special event to our calendar? Please call the office and we will make sure to share your event with the Chamber of Commerce Members!

April 2016

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1

2

3

St. Peter’s Parish Spring

Fling Bingo 6pm

4 5

Village Council 7:30pm

Queen of Hearts 8pm

6

Marketing Committee

Meeting 8am

7

River Rapids Library

presents Mahtob Mah-

moody at the Ches.

Middle School 6:30pm

8

Christ Lutheran School

Living History, K-8

6:30-8:30pm

9 Kids Spring Sucker

Tournament 8am

Trinity Free Community

Supper 5-7pm

10 11

Historical Society Annual

Election & Potluck—6pm

at the Lion’s Club.

12

Queen of Hearts 8pm

13

Chamber Raffle Noon

14

Chamber Board of

Directors Meeting 8am

Library: Kristin Meekhof

15 16 Chamber Scrapbook

Crop 9am-9pm

Library Reading between

the Vines Wine Tasting

7pm

17 18

Candlewalk Committee

Meeting 5:30pm

19

Village Council 7:30pm

Queen of Hearts 8pm

20

KofC Hamburg Night

5-7pm

21 22 23

24 25 26

Task Force Meeting

7:30am

Queen of Hearts 8pm

27

Chamber Raffle Noon

28 29 30

Chesaning Area Walleye

Fishing Contest 5am-5pm

Do you know a Chesaning Union High

School senior? Remind them that the

application deadline for the scholarship is

Thursday, March 24th!

This year will mark the 21st Annual Golf Outing organized by the Chesaning Chamber of Commerce. Start forming your 4-person teams to join us at Twin Brooks Golf Course on Sun-day, May 22nd starting at 9am. The fee of $60 per person includes 18 holes of golf, one cart per team, lunch and beverages. As in years past, there will be door prizes, event winners at every hole and other games and contests throughout the day.

Proceeds from the event help fund two $500 scholarships for Chesaning Union High School seniors. The lucky recipients of the scholarships in 2015 were Emily Sadilek and Brianna Sargee.

Would your business be interested in sponsoring a hole, putting green contest or providing a door prize or gift certificate? Please contact the Chamber office at 845-3055! Spon-sors will be promoted through signage at the putting green, tee boxes, listings at the club house, in the Tri-County Citizen as well as Chamber marketing materials and web page.

Ready to sign up your team? Call Twin Brooks at 845-6403 after April 1st.

Upcoming Chamber and Community Events!

Page 5 March 2016

Events:

March 22, 6pm: Michigan Back Roads

with Ron Rademacher

April 7, 6:30: “My Name is Mahtob” with

Mahtob Mahmoody at Chesaning Middle

School (Doors open at 6pm)

April 14, 6pm: A Widow’s Guide to Heal-

ing: Gentle Support and Advice” with

Kristin Meekhof

Chesaning Historical Society

Annual Election & Potluck

6pm, Monday, April 11

at the Lion’s Club Bring a dish to

pass and your

table service

Since 1986, Chesaning has hosted one of Michigan's largest community- wide garage, sidewalk and yard sales. Your Chamber Marketing Committee has begun preparations for this year’s event, which will be held on the Friday and Saturday of Memorial Day week-end, May 27 & 28.

As in years past, we will accept applications at the Chamber to be listed on the community map, as well as offer advertising space for busi-nesses . Watch your email for more information coming soon!

Chesaning Chamber of Commerce

P.O.Box 83

Chesaning, MI 48616

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

The 14th Annual Chesaning Sports Boosters Dinner Dance on Saturday, March 19th promises to be a fun coun-try-themed evening of dancing, food and music provided by The Sarah Re-gal Band. Tickets are $125 for two and include entry into drawings for cash prizes. Doors open at 5:30pm at the St. Peter’s Parish Hall. For tickets, call Ron Poyer (721-0616), Rebecca Pursley (445-0123) or Patti Escamilla (798-4581).

Town-Wide Attic Sale SHOP Local,

Shop CHESANING!

Chesaning Chamber of Commerce Mission Statement

“To actively foster business growth,

member services and a united community”

Enjoying Their Pots O’ Gold

Congratulations to two more

Raffle winners of $300: Kathy Jones

of Owosso had her stub pulled on

February 24th by Shaina Schneider of

Sovis Insurance Agency, and Halee

Williams of Dr. Hopfensperger’s office

was our lucky winner on March 9th

with her ticket stub drawn by Dave

Sutton of Trinity Methodist Church.

Don’t forget, drawings are at

noon on the 2nd and 4th Wednesday

of every month and winning tickets

are returned to the bin for future

drawings! Stop in to be our guest

drawer and make someone’s day!

Proceeds from the 2016 Raffle

support the Chamber Fireworks and

other Chamber projects.

March 2016 Page 6

Sports Boosters Dance