Hot Springs Chamber talks summer events

HOT SPRINGS – Several Sanders County businesswomen gathered together in a local café to enjoy lunch as well as important topics of discussion. 

The Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce had their monthly meeting Thursday, March 6 at noon. Many things were on the agenda including the usual financial reports, the successes of past events and preparations for future events. 

According to Chamber President Leslee Smith, the Chinese New Year Festival and the production of Cinderella put on by the Missoula Children’s Theater were solid achievements. 

The events that are up ahead for Hot Springs include the usual Homesteader’s Days and Rodeo. This will be the 65th anniversary of the Homesteaders celebration and it will be held in the second week of June.

Something new will be coming to Hot Springs this summer. At the end of July, the New Old Time Chautauqua troupe will be staying for three days. The only other Montana stops NOTC will be making are Libby and Eureka.

The NOTC is a non-profit organization whose mission is to provide family-oriented entertainment. There are many different elements of entertainment the group provides. NOTC offers a parade which includes dancers, jugglers and unicycle riders. 

There is also a vaudeville show that features music, acrobatics, magic and comedy as well as other things. In addition, workshops will be available to teach any who wish to learn the tricks of the trade. 

NOTC members enjoy assisting the areas they visit. The members of NOTC ask the communities to have a service project in mind by the time of their arrival.  The chamber is still seeking suggestions of possible projects and will be posing this question to Mayor Randy Woods. 

The chamber also discussed the continuation of the advertising plan with Anderson Radio Broadcasting. The chamber teamed up with Advertising/Marketing Consultant Steve Pickel back in January in order to attract more visitors to Hot Springs.

Since then, advertisements have been running on the Anderson radio stations and a prize drawing has been underway. Entry boxes were set up at various businesses in the area for any who wished to enter for the raffle. The winner will receive a special package of prizes donated by local businesses. The winning ticket will be drawn later this month.

During the meeting, the chamber had a visit from the Hot Springs High School Jobs for Montana Graduates Class. 

The JMG class is a student-lead organization that helps to prepare students for the real world. They emphasize the importance of graduation, leadership and work ethic. 

Recently, the class successfully put on the Graduation Matters Event for the younger students. Over 200 students took the pledge to graduate and their handprints are set to hang in the school gym next fall. 

The JMG class also took second place our of approximately 50 schools for their logo design at the Fall Leadership Conference in Helena. There is another conference in April the group is planning on attending and for that they will be required to build their own website to be entered for competition.  

JMG members joined the chamber meeting to observe some local professionals. They also mentioned that they are looking to job-shadow various community members so they may gain a better understanding of the work place. The goal is to have this arranged soon.

The next Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce meeting will be held on Thursday, April 3 at noon.