The Fallon Chamber of Commerce is a 501(c)6 non-profit organization, originally incorporated on December 26, 1947. Lucy Carnahan, the Chamber’s Executive Director, has the original corporation documents filed with the Nevada Secretary of State from that day. The documents were typed by hand on tissue-thin legal-size sheets of paper with the original signatures and embossed stamps still clearly visible.
The Fallon Chamber works at multiple levels on behalf of our business community – at the city, county and state levels. When asked by a prospective member what the Chamber does and why they should join, Lucy will say, “It’s the Chamber’s goal to enhance our business community and to advocate and represent you, our local businesses, in everything we organize, support and promote.” That is most certainly what the Chamber does in Fallon for our businesses - that and so much more.
The Chamber ran the first County Fair and Cantaloupe Festival in 1986 with a total event budget of $11,239. It ran the festival in addition to growing their service offerings to the community. It’s important to note that the Chamber operates without any city, county or state funding. Instead, all of the services that it does provide are funded by membership dues and fundraiser events – and the list of services is extensive and still growing. The Chamber maintains a 24/7 website (www.fallonchamber.com) and the Fallon Chamber Welcome Center. They offer relocation and information distribution, sponsor Fallon job fairs, provide training and classes and offer networking and volunteerism opportunities. They are a primary military outreach group, and are involved in legislative updates and important community updates. Weekly e-newsletters are sent out, ribbon cuttings are celebrated, and referrals are made. In a normal year, the Chamber also holds the Annual Awards Banquet to recognize the accomplishments of our local businesses. Amazing, right?
The Fallon Chamber currently shares office space at 448 West Williams Avenue with CEDA and SBDC. Lucy said, “The combined CEDA/SBDC/Chamber offices are a great fit.” A visit to that office will show you exactly why. The three groups work incredibly well together and it’s evident as soon as you walk in the door. The Chamber also has a full Board of Directors that governs its operations, with Cynthia McGarrah as its President. The other board members are Angela Guthrie (Vice President), Pamela Ferguson (Secretary), Valerie Johnston (Treasurer), Kimberlee Beeghly, Robyn Jordan and Michelle Gabiola-Rogers, and Carol Arciniega (Directors) and Open position (Alternate).
Here’s a little more Cantaloupe Festival history. In 2015, the Fallon Festival Association was formed and took on responsibility for the festival. However, the Chamber still provides volunteer support and help for that event, including running games and the gates, stage support, set-up and break-down to put everything away, hanging banners and taking them all down. The Fallon Festival Association is also a non-profit corporation with a Board of Directors. Zip Upham is its President, Kim Klenakis is the Secretary and Lorrie Ford is Treasurer. The festival budget, now somewhere around $70,000, is mostly self-funded. But it does also include community and Northern Nevada sponsors. Churchill County donates use of the fairgrounds for the event, and Fallon Convention and Tourism Authority and the City of Fallon also provide sponsorships.
According to Lucy, volunteering is way down. “Most people today don’t want to do anything without some form of compensation – even if it’s just a t-shirt.” The Chamber Ambassadors are also volunteers, but that group is also shrinking. “Membership and the Annual Awards Dinner are the only source of funding for the Chamber” Lucy said. She also explained that the 501(c)6 non-profits weren’t eligible for the first round of federal PPP funding, but may be eligible for this next round. The Chamber was approved for a PETS grant in 2020, but those funds have still not arrived.
The Chamber and CEDA have still been very busy. Lucy told me, “We helped local businesses last year with paperwork and other filing requirements so that the businesses could apply for the first round of PPP funding with their banks. We have been attending webinars to better understand how to best file for and use federal
PPP funds. We provided assistance by appointment to people who needed to file for unemployment benefits during the pandemic but that did not have access to computers. We lent a hand to businesses who had to lay off employees due to the pandemic and who needed help to get their people on unemployment.” Lucy did also say that only 8 to 10 businesses applied for the 2nd round of PPP assistance. Access to the Churchill County and City of Fallon Business Support grant, issued from CEDA, helped the Chamber acquire face masks and hand sanitizers to continue to follow/meet CDC guidelines.
The Chamber’s weekly e-newsletter still goes out every Friday. Lucy said, “People really look for that, and they let me know when they don’t receive one.” The newsletter is an opportunity to publicize local events and is highly appreciated by all recipients.
Even though there are current limitations on in-person attendance at the Legislature this session, the Chamber is still involved with them. The Chamber is supporting many different bills that pertain to our Small Businesses in our rural community, they just cannot attend the bill discussions in person. Instead, attendance is done either virtually via a Zoom conference call or via a letter of support depending on which bill it is. Either way, the Chamber is always advocating for our community.
The Chamber board met on Tuesday, February 9th at 7 pm at the Chamber office, and meetings are open to the public. A typical agenda includes the call to order, approval of minutes, the Treasurer’s report and the Executive Director’s report.
It was discussed that some members are having difficulty paying their dues and the Chamber may lose members as a result. The Chamber is offering to work with any members who may need help paying their dues. Some businesses are closing. A few new members have also not paid yet and collections in general have been difficult.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Annual Awards Dinner is not being held this year. However, there are 17 awards that are still being given out, and this year they will be announced on Facebook Live on Friday the 19th. A team from the Chamber including board members will announce the awards in the live-streamed ceremony. Board members offered to deliver the awards to the winning businesses, or the winners can come to the office on Monday February 22nd to pick them up. The Chamber is also planning to do a couple of live Facebook events ahead of time as commercials to promote the award announcement event on the 19th.
Lucy is hoping to start up the monthly Chamber luncheons again and the next one is tentatively planned for March 18th. She is also hopeful that the Chamber’s travel program can be started up again. Collette Tours runs the program for many Chambers of Commerce. A percentage of the travel costs are given back to each chamber for travel plans booked through them. Some of the trips that Collette has done for the Fallon Chamber include St Patrick’s Day in Ireland, Discover Tuscany, Washington DC Spotlight in April when the cherry blossoms are in bloom and a Music City tour that included Nashville and other stops. Collate Travel may be the guest speaker for the March luncheon.
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