Community Comes Together

There are moments when I fall in love with our community all over again. Such was last week when, 32 hours before our largest-ever mixer, we got a call letting us know our venue was no longer available. For good cause, granted – The Acres, our long-planned event host, closed to the public and was activated as a Cal Fire Incident Management Base Camp in response to the Hill Fire.

We were expecting 800+ attendees at our second annual Summer Fun Family Mixer for Chamber members, their employees and their families. We had been planning with our mixer hosts from The Acres, Mic Moulton and Jamie Biagi, for months. Pivoting, if we were able to do it, was going to require a heck of a lot of doing.

Within 90 minutes, exactly one text, one email (to multiple people), and two phone calls later, we had generous offers for two alternative venues. The City of Eureka was prepared to pull out all the stops to host it at Halvorson Park. Swan Asbury, director of the City’s economic development department, was grace personified, a calming presence in an otherwise very chaotic moment.

Supervisor Rex Bohn offered Redwood Fields in Cutten. His option was turn-key and made the most sense. Within an hour we were doing a walk-through with him and confirming the event layout. Thanks to the plans in place with Mic and Jamie, we were able to almost seamlessly move the event to Redwood Fields.

Meredith Maier of Six Rivers Brewery, Chamber CEO Nancy Olson and Supervisor Natalie Arroyo.

Rex was on-site the entire day of our event – the first one there and the last to leave. He guided us and our vendors through our set-up, event logistics, and clean-up. (Clearly he loves this kind of thing!) Enthusiastic volunteers came out of the woodwork, including Supervisor Natalie Arroyo and State Assembly candidate Chris Rogers, to help alongside our stellar team of Chamber Ambassadors. Special shout out to our Chamber team – Susan, Carly and Dillon, and several Board Members - who worked diligently to pull it off.

The event featured live music, food trucks, axe throwing, lawn games, and a wide variety of kid-centered activities including face painting, balloon animals, a magician, opportunity to explore really cool vehicles, and more. Our sponsors pivoted right along with us: RWE-Canopy, Premier Financial, Nordic Aquafarms, Redwood Capital Bank, Coast Central Credit Union, Quality Body Works, Six Rivers Brewery and Bicoastal Media.

Joy permeated the Summer Fun Family Mixer – smiles and laughter were everywhere! All thanks to our beautiful community that came together.

Want to see more photos from the event? Visit our Facebook page.