Great example

Phil Cobb Glasses

I don’t know an exact number, but this newspaper reported that more than 300 people mobbed onto Maryville’s downtown square for the Greater Maryville Chamber of Commerce’s third-annual Community Pep Rally last Thursday.

I’ve been to all three of these Chamber-sponsored events, and I would have to say that this was the biggest and best yet.

Lots of hard work and coordination by Chamber Director Jordyn Swalley and her staff set an example we should all take note of: This is how it’s supposed to work.

One of the Chamber’s main functions is to promote and advocate for its member businesses.

One way to do that is to provide a venue at which those members can showcase their products and services. Another way is to bring people to town, whether it be downtown or otherwise.

The Chamber threw a party and people showed up – success!

A lot of those people – I know we did – ate out at a local restaurant that night.

That generates revenue for local business, and it contributes to the generation of sales tax, which pays for city infrastructure.

That’s how it works.

That’s how it’s supposed to work.

That’s what organizations like the Chamber are supposed to do — spur activity to generate growth.

Not only that, but there was a true sense of community spirit that prevailed throughout the crowd.

People really showed their true colors in supporting members of, not only fall sports contingents, but all types of activities taking place at the high school as the new year kicks off.

Some activities that often get overlooked or under-recognized took center stage.

The Spoofhound Marching Band played a prominent role in the festivities.

The MHS Dazzlers dance team displayed the results of all their hard work prior to the beginning of the year.

The MHS cheerleaders got the crowd pumped up, especially the younger members of the crowd who joined them for a group cheer in the middle of the street.

It was truly fun for all ages.

And it brought the community together in a way that nothing else can.

Maryville loves its Spoofhounds.

Members and coaches of the football, softball, volleyball, soccer, tennis, golf and cross country teams were also recognized.

A good number of the student body at MHS got to feel the love from their community.

It’s important that our young people see just how much support they have from their elders, and their community as a whole.

It can’t be a bad thing for young people to feel welcome in their hometown.

By the way, one of those young people grew up to become the director of the Chamber of Commerce.

Great job, Jordyn! The Chamber will miss your leadership, but we’re glad you’ll still be an active part of the community.

The same principal applies

What the Chamber was able to achieve on a comparatively small scale, can also be achieved on a much larger scale.

We’re seeing it at Mozingo Lake Recreation Park with the continued growth and expansion of attractions that already are and will continue to draw more and more visitors to our community.

This is even better than the example the Chamber displayed, because many of the people who visit us because of Mozingo are from places other than Maryville.

This is money coming into our community from other places, helping to offset all the money that leaves our community for various reasons, helping to boost local business, and broadening the tax base to pay for vital infrastructure improvements and maintenance.

The same principal applies to the newly proposed multipurpose facility to be located on the campus of Northwest Missouri State University.

If approved by a simple majority of voters on the November ballot, a 5 percent “bed tax” would help to pay for the multipurpose, joint-use (university, and city) building, and would give a huge boost – $65,000 per year based on current hotel occupancy rates – to local economic development efforts.

Put as simply as possible, this is a chance for us to do something great for our city and our university … with other people’s money.

A “bed tax” which altogether would generate more than $200,000 a year would be paid almost entirely by visitors to our city to the tune of a little over $3 per hotel room.

That can’t be a bad thing, but it definitely can be a very good thing.

If you’re a regular reader of this newspaper, you’re aware of all the many uses the multipurpose building would serve, but one thing we really haven’t delved into yet is the competitive balance of schools in the MIAA conference.

I think we can all agree about the importance of the university to this city.

A recent economic impact study estimated Northwest’s economic impact, not only on this city, but on the entire region, to be more than $617 million annually.

We cannot and should not underestimate what that means to the quality of all our lives.

In order to maintain that level of significance, Northwest must keep pace with other schools in its conference.

You don’t have to go very far south to see what a similar, yet smaller, facility has meant to our closest competitor and its city.

Fort Hayes State and Pittsburgh State already have indoor facilities.

Central Oklahoma has plans to build one within the year, and Washburn is currently in the planning stage of the same type of building.