Photo by Barb Jeffers
There was good news all around at the Lanesboro Area Chamber of Commerce (LACC) Annual Meeting on January 22, 2025, which was held in the Rustic Hearth Event Center at Cedar Valley Resort in Whalan, Minn.
The evening began with socializing and delicious snacks from Clara’s Eatery as well as beverage options. Chamber members enjoyed mingling and networking with each other and the LACC staff prior to the start of the meeting.
“The annual meeting has a couple official purposes for our bylaws; first is to elect the new slate of board members for the next three-year terms and the membership at large does that. And then any other bylaw specific things … if you want to amend the bylaws themselves it has to be at a special meeting of the members like this, but we also take this as an opportunity to look back at the year, we present our financials from the year, present our budget for the current year for approval at the board as well as kind of chart the course for the year ahead and give people a snippet of what that looks like and just have a good time,” stated Joe Goetzke, executive director of LACC.
After completing his first full year in the position of executive director, Goetzke shared how things have been going. “It’s been great, having Jonathan (Levine) at the Chamber. He has been awesome because he has been the day-to-day presence of the office for several years, so I learned a lot from him, and I had been on the Chamber board before, so I kind of knew that high level stuff about the organization. But we have been able to do some fun stuff … kicked our marketing up a notch and got the social media going, flying drones around, just having fun showcasing the area for all our visitors and the residents, too, and people seem to be enjoying it.”
Goetzke began the meeting by welcoming everyone in attendance and gave a glimpse into the news that would be forthcoming, saying, “I am happy to report that we ended fiscal year 2024 with a significant surplus that has gone a long way towards making up the financial losses of the 2022 fiscal year,” to which there was a resounding round of applause and cheers by the approximately 50 attendees.
“Not only that, but we made some great strides in enhancing the value of our membership by doubling down on what makes us strong, making other improvements where needed and having fun trying new things,” stated Goetzke.
“This year is particularly special as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Chamber. For three decades this Chamber has been a part of the community fostering connections, supporting businesses and driving economic growth,” Goetzke continued.
Kara Maloney, executive director of Lanesboro Arts, who had served the past six years as a board member and held a position as board chair until fulfilling her two consecutive three-year terms, called the meeting to order.
The first order of business was the approval of the Agenda for the Annual Meeting, followed by the approval of the Minutes of last year’s Annual Meeting.
Jonathan Levine, office administrator for LACC, gave the 2024 Year-in-Review, announcing that they printed and distributed nearly visitor’s guide this year to various locations within a two-hour radius of Lanesboro and Whalan.
Levine also shared that a new LACC website has been launched, among other very exciting and optimistic information. “We got a new brand; we partnered with the city and the EDA to create uniform branding across each organization,” shared Levine. He then showed a video sharing their evolution as a brand.
Hal Cropp, who was involved with the creation of LACC, gave the keynote address. Cropp spoke about how the Chamber has grown and changed over the span of 30 years. He was enthusiastic about the future of LACC and the town itself due to the “fostering spirit of Lanesboro being probably the greatest resource that we have.” Cropp ended by saying, “I believe in the Chamber, and I believe in Lanesboro and I am really pleased and proud to continue to be here,” which brought forth a heartfelt round of applause from the audience.
Three new board members were elected, each to serve a three-year term. Laryssa Hanson with Merchants Bank, Allie Palmer with Paddle On Coffee and Christina Evenson with Clara’s Eatery were unanimously elected and are all excited to serve the Chamber and the community.
The 2024 Financial Report was presented along with the 2025 Proposed Budget which was approved. Minor changes to the Bylaws were approved as well.
For more information contact LACC at 507-467-2696 or email chamber@lanesboro.com.
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