iNFORMER News June '09

Welcome to iNFORMER!
Our Trinidad Chamber Blogletter

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It's our monthly newsletter merged with commenting capabilities. Here, you'll collect Chamber News and Information, as well as updates on upcoming events in-and-around Trinidad. On page 2 there's a letter from your Chamber President and Business Reports. On page 3 there's business specials for Chamber Members and Member announcements. Of course feel free to leave a comment or start a conversation with your Chamber too.

Monthly Chamber Dinner Meeting
Tuesday, June 16th 6p Town Hall
Presentation followed by dinner

Scholarships and Business Meeting and "The Storyteller"

This month's dinner meeting is full of important and exciting activities that you won't want to miss. Our scholarship selection committee will be presenting monetary awards to two very deserving and hard working high school students and recognizing their families as well.

Additionally, we will have our annual business meeting to elect new officers and review a few general business items pertinent to the operation of the Chamber. We won't let these matters take very long as our special guest is our very own Storyteller Extraordinaire - Dan O'Gara. It's always a delight to hear Dan spin a tale or two, so you won't want to miss hearing the latest ones from Dan.

By the way, don't hesitate to invite your friends and neighbors. We always welcome members and guests alike!

Happy hour and a snack will still start at 6:00 as usual, presentation at 6:30, followed by dinner at 7:15. Please plan on joining us with dinner served by the great folks of Catch Cafe. Dinner price is $17.50 per person.

Please make your dinner reservations by the Sunday before.
Call 677-1610

Calendar Of Up-Coming Events

• Sat.Jun.6-7 and Jun.13-14 North Coast Open Studios
  • 11th Annual North Coast Open Studios Site -Trinidad Weekend
• Sun.Jun.21 - Something's Fishy! 11-4p
• 52nd Annual Trinidad Fish Festival FUNdraiser - Fishy Fun for Father's Day all 'round Trinidad. showMore Something's Fishy! It's time to get creative and win! Our Chamber is sponsoring 3 Art Contests with prizes worth over $1000! Fish Festival Sponsorship Opportunities (online info) still available. For more information, Call 677-1610
• Tue.Jun.30 - Monthly Chamber Board of Directors Meeting 7p
• Tue.Jul.21 - Wine Tasting and Tour of Moonstone Crossing Winery 6p

Hint: hover over or click for more details and links to more info.

If you or your organization would like to advertise your special event, we're glad to add it to our Calendar of Up-coming Events. For more information,
Call 677-1610

Simple & Effective Ways to Promote

We can help! Use our Chamber Blogletter & Newsletter. We will post your event in our iNFORMER Blog, and we can include your flyer in our monthly newsletter. Our blog and newsletter are sent to all of our Chamber members as well as other Chambers in the Northern California area. Many people subscribe to our blog. Many more follow us on Twitter @TrinidadTweets to receive up-to-the-minute Chamber News and Member Promotions.

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iNFORMER News - Page 2

Bring The Whole Family To The 52nd Annual Fish Festival
Father's Day Sunday June 21st

Something's fishy in Trinidad, but it's not what you think. It's the 52nd Annual Trinidad Fish Festival on Sunday, June 21st from 11:00am to 4:00pm.

There'll be lots of great music and entertainment, plus many new things for everyone to enjoy, including a children's fishing derby on the pier, harbor boat tours, an oyster bar as well as Coast Guard demonstrations, an artisan market; and of course wonderful fish dinners served all day.

So mark your calendars! Tell your friends! We'll see you there!

Sponsored by the Greater Trinidad Chamber of Commerce with special thanks to our major sponsors: Cher-Ae Heights Casino and All Hits Radio 95.5 FM. Special thanks to Forbes & Associates for their continuing support.

Little "Fish" Help Promote Fish Festival

On May 28th, visitors at the Memorial Lighthouse were somewhat startled to see several colorful fish, seemingly out of water. Alas, on closer inspection, it turned out the little fish were none other than students from our very own Trinidad school dressed in costumes they made for the school's annual ocean education program last month.

The little fish made a big splash helping promote the annual Fish Festival as part of the Spirit of the North Coast public service announcement filmed by our wonderful Fish Festival sponsor, TV Station KIEM Ch 3. By the time the shooting was completed, everyone was into the act, including Executive Director Dori Fulk, aka Miss Rockfish.

The "Spirit of the North Coast" is a public service of KIEM Channel 3. Special thanks to Mike Morgan for helping escort our special school of fish.

Activities and Attractions:

Salmon and whitefish dinners served all day
Live music at several locations throughout the town
Local beer and wine sales
Hot dogs and lemonade available thru school PTO
Deserts and Coffee sales thru Trinidad Civic Club
Children's play area
Art contest and show in Town Hall
Fish story contests
Artisan's market on Trinity St.
US Coast Guard rescue demonstration
HSU Marine Lab open for touring
Oyster bar at harbor
Children's fishing derby on the pier
Kayak demonstrations at Old Home Beach
Harbor boat tours
US Coast Guard lighthouse tours
Raffles for fishing gear and the Fish Festival theme painting
And much more!

Beverly Harper's Great Painting - Something's Fishy!

Fish Festival Fund Raiser Features 3 Art Contests

Be a part of the Fish Festival by entering this year's "Something's Fishy!" Artist's Contest. Celebrate our community's special relationship to fishing by having some creative fishy fun!

This year we're sponsoring 3 Contests with a boat-load of prizes. Our catch (your entries) will be on display at the Town Hall Gallery. Please stop by the Chamber office for entry forms or find more info online.

Join one or join 'em all

1. Best Father's Day Fish Story (Father Figure Fish Stories Welcome!) - $250
2. Best Trinidad Fish Story (Real or Imagined) - $250
3. Art - Best Trinidad "Something's Fishy!" Creation (Painting, Photography, Sculpture, etc.) - $250, 2nd - $150, 3rd - $75

President's Comments

Every day brings more interesting news from Sacramento about our state’s budget crisis. One of the most recent budget cutting proposals is “eliminate the General Fund support for state parks”. Specifically, the proposal is to remove $143 million of the Department of Parks and Recreation’s General Fund allocation in the 2009-10 Fiscal Year and the next budget year, FY 2010-11. This will result in closures of as much as 80 percent of the state park system, approximately 223 state parks. Guess what! Almost all of the state parks on the North Coast are on the list. Needless to say, this would have a negative effect on Trinidad and the surrounding area. “Ironically, the number of state parks visitors has spiked in recent years as people look for affordable, close getaways. State parks have an economic multiplier effect in many communities that are already struggling in the current recession. For every $1 spent supporting the state park system, $2.35 is returned to the state's General Fund through purchases in local economies and in the state parks themselves by park visitors. Given that “economic multiplier effect, the proposal could cost the state as much as $352.5 million in potential revenue ($150M x $2.35 = $352.5M).” (Source: Save Our State Parks campaign) I don’t envy our state leaders as they attempt to make the very difficult decisions to balance our state budget, but this proposal represents “less than 1/10 of one percent of the entire state budget and less than .62 percent of the estimated $24.3 billion budget deficit”. Can our state leaders find .62 percent of the estimated deficit elsewhere? I hope they can. Our budget crisis is serious and as our Governor has stated, we all need to do our “fair share.” Tough decisions will have to be made. But closing our local parks is not the optimal solution when that solution devastates the economy of entire regions of the state. More information on this issue and how to contact our local representatives to tell them how we feel about our parks is available at www.savestateparks.org. -------------------------- Finally, after two years as your President and one year as your Vice-President, this will be my final set of comments that I will share with you in this capacity. Undoubtedly, I will still be involved in our Chamber, as I believe that a strong support system for our local businesses is necessary for the long term viability of our community. Our local economy largely depends on attracting visitors to our beautiful area; who by spending time and money contribute to our local businesses and to our local government, which in turn can maintain and improve our infrastructure for the benefit of all of us, visitors and residents alike. Realistically, Trinidad and the surrounding area will always be a “quaint little fishing village”. But even maintaining a small village is a significant challenge and will only become more difficult as we struggle with limited resources to provide the services required by our citizens and visitors. It is with this thought in mind that I support our local businesses and a strong Chamber of Commerce to help supply the revenue stream that ultimately supports our quality of life. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be a part of our Chamber leadership. I learned a lot and I hope that I was able to contribute something in return. I also want to thank the many Chamber members that have willingly and tirelessly contributed so much over the past several years to make our Chamber successful. The passion, creativity and energy of our Board and other volunteers are nothing less than amazing. It is a privilege to work with all of you. And a special thanks to my family who allowed me to have this very special experience. Regards,

Richard Johnson
677-3173

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iNFORMER News - Page 3

Now Open! Trinidad (Twinidad?) Twisitor Center

Follow us @TrinidadTweets and receive up-to-the-minute Chamber News, remindMe Event Notification, and Chamber Member Promotions.

What's all this Twitter stuff you say? showMore

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If you are asking that, tweeting is probably not for you. Well not yet anyway. Meanwhile, we're on the map at Twisitorcenter.com (first on the North Coast!).

Trinidad has joined the ranks of savvy cities around the world that tweet!

Twisitors (Trinidad visitors who tweet with twitter.com) can now "ask the locals" by tweeting travel questions directly to us.

Giving more personal suggestions on things-to-do, as well as unique personal perspectives of Trinidad is not only helpful, it's fun! If we're unavailable, fielding questions like "Where's Strawberry Rock in Trinidad?" can be done by our "followers" (friends who subscribe to our tweets) and the twitter community at large. Someone in London who likes Trinidad may get the tweet, and be excited to answer it. Twitter-ers are generally enthusiastic, helpful people. If we can get Ned tweeting, imagine having him available to answer your tweets.

I like getting tweets like "Hey everyone, there are 3 whales whooping it up in the Bay." You can follow your favorite local businesses as well as international news. Emergency notifications over Twitter have even helped alert residents in their cities. Curious? Check out our Trinidad Twisitor Center and the Web for more information. Get tweeting!

Mike Morgan,
GTCC Global Public Relations & Marketing Chair

Notary Services Now Available in Trinidad

Now there's no need to leave Trinidad if you need the services of a Notary. Robin Frazer, Trinidad's Assistant City Clerk, wants to remind everyone that she is now a certified California Notary Public. Robin is available at the City Office on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 9 AM to 2 PM, or by appointment. And as a special bonus offer to Chamber members, all notary services are 50% off until June 1st. Thanks Robin (services offered are provided by a private citizen and not connected with the City of Trinidad).
Call 677-0223 or 599-8537.

George Herd Named Chamber's 2009 Citizen of the Year!

Congratulations to George. "Thank you for your service to our community."

Get Linked Up!

If you haven't already been linked from our Chamber's Web site to your own Member site, now is the time to do it. Our Web site has a new look, with lots of exciting features that will attract both local and distant viewers. Linking will help your search rankings too! We have thousands of visitors looking at our site every month.

With advertising costs increasing, getting maximum benefit from Web based advertising and exposure is critical. Or if you sponsor or support a nonbusiness or non-profit organization that would benefit from linking the Chamber Web site and yours, we now have the "in-house" ability to do it quickly and easily. Don't delay, use this Chamber service now.