As news reports swirl about the end of Oakdale’s long-running annual Chocolate Festival, the Oakdale Chamber of Commerce leadership team remains unfazed and committed to their goal of supporting Oakdale businesses.
“The Chamber has switched its direction from an events planning organization to a resource-based organization,” Membership and Marketing Manager, Bri Swan shared. “It was a unanimous vote amongst our board members.”
With just over 30 years of dedication to the annual ‘Chocolate’ event, the third Saturday of each May, Swan along with Oakdale Chamber CEO, Cherilyn Bairos shared the board spent a good portion of the past year weighing the pros and cons of continuing the event.
“We’re a resource Chamber now. We’re not an event planning Chamber,” Bairos said of the Chamber’s change in direction. “We don’t need to have one big event to make a lot of money, when we’re doing all these things that support Oakdale directly.
“The biggest thing here is we need to be a resource for our businesses, that’s what we’re here for. We need to help our businesses get off the ground,” she continued.
Yet, as an admitted “date driven” person, Bairos shared she had strong feelings of keeping the third weekend of May important to the community. An Oakdale native, Bairos shared that while she fully supports the decision, she still desired having something to look forward to in the community come May.
“I asked and I wanted the board to at least have something for our community that day,” the CEO said. “To keep something that Saturday that’s for our community but base it off of our businesses and not bring vendors here. We are supporting the Morning Market. We have the best Morning Market around, no need to have another festival the same day.”
On Saturday, May 18 the Oakdale Chamber will present its inaugural Sip and Shop from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.
The goal of the event is multi-fold for the chamber. Learning from a past similar event, they’ve listened to members and extended the footprint of the event beyond Third Avenue and its neighboring streets.
Focused on encouraging attendees to meander beyond what has become the usual path, two check in locations will be hosted on opposite sides. One check-in will be placed at the Oakdale Cowboy Museum, while the other will be located at the Oakdale Town Plaza at Gene Bianchi Community Center. Both locations will host live music at the check-ins. Attendees will also be given location maps of close to 40 businesses participating.
It is a 21 years and older event. Tickets are $35 in advance and $45 at check-in.
“Because they’re our farthest east and our farthest west locations it’s great that they’re check-ins because the map will just coincide with each other,” Ashley Ardis, Sip and Shop Event Chair and Chamber Executive Board Member/VP of Agriculture shared.
“There’s members and non-members participating,” Bairos said of the inaugural event. “We invited everybody on that footprint. We went door to door on several occasions, Ashley went door to door by herself. We printed flyers that asked if they wanted to participate.”
Expanding the footprint to include businesses beyond the downtown area was important to the Chamber organizers and the businesses responded. With close to 40 stops, participants will be treated to an afternoon of community as well as raffle items and snacks at varying stops.
There will also be more live music as they make their way to Third with Weekend at Jimmy’s playing live at the corner of Third Avenue and E Street.
“They have to have a bracelet for the 21 and over event,” the Chamber CEO noted. “There’s going to be mocktails, non-alcoholic drinks, beer, wine, spritzers and stuff like that.”
Bairos and Swan shared they attended a similar event in a neighboring town and immediately recognized the need for non-alcoholic options. Not a team to simply rest on the standards of water, tea or soft drinks, the team has challenged businesses interested in offering non-alcoholic options to make it fun and get creative. The event map will indicate the varying locations to help shoppers navigate.
Further recognizing that the expanded footprint might create challenges by way of the roadways, the team has enlisted the help of ‘Cowboy Crossing Guards’ to assist attendees as they make their way to the various event stops.
“The businesses are really happy that we’re doing this. Our thing is not bringing pop up people, using our brick and mortars,” Bairos stated.
“We’re trying to keep it local. Keep Oakdale shopping in Oakdale. Support our brick and mortars,” Ardis added.
A punch card will also be given to each attendee which will be punched and then submitted for a $500 gift card to a participating location of their choice. The giveaway is made possible by KAT Country and Oakdale Rotary Club.
“We are going to do some raffle stops. There will be different raffle baskets at some of the locations,” Bairos said.
“I love that it can draw attention to the type of businesses that are in town,” Swan contributed.
Looking forward to the May 18 event, the trio recognize it’s a much different event than what the community might expect. Yet they are committed to the goal of supporting Oakdale businesses and as a non-profit building funds through creative efforts which include those businesses.
“Including a lot of people that are not in the downtown footprint,” Ardis noted as a highlight for her personally of the inaugural event.
Tickets for the Sip and Shop may be purchased at the Oakdale Chamber of Commerce or by visiting oakdalecachamber.org
A few spots for volunteer cowboy crossing guards are still open. E-mail Ardis at aardis@kw.com to volunteer.
“The biggest thing is we just want people to go out there, shop local, have a good time, go to as many businesses as they want and listen to the music. Enjoy the vibe,” Bairos concluded.
