The Wagner Chamber of Commerce met at Two Spurs on Monday, September 9.

The regular meeting was called to order by President, Laura Wright.

Shout Outs: To the Labor Day Committee for doing a great job, even with Mother Nature to contend with they handled rescheduling of events well. To the Labor Day Committee for coming up with great new events for the weekend, the game night was fun and family friendly! Shout out to Bouza Construction for a wonderful ribbon cutting and their Grand Re-opening Celebration.

Approval of Minutes: Motion by Becky Brunsing, second, Ken Cotton.

Approval of Financial Report: Motion by Becky Brunsing, second Kathe Henke.

Labor Day Discussion: Even with 4-5 inches of rain on Saturday, events appeared to be well attended. It was noted that the committee ran out of pre-sale tickets for the carnival rides early on Friday (not sure they have ran out of the pre-sale tickets in the past). Some events had to be rescheduled or shifted on start times. The Wagner Fire Department Figure 8 race was the only event that needed to be rescheduled to a different weekend. Figure 8 race will be held on Sunday September 22nd at 12 p.m.

DOT Application: Laura reported that a group of 5-6 community members have been working on applying for a grant to install/repair sidewalk from the Wagner Community School to the Boys & Girls Club. Last month they had a walk thru with the board from Pierre and they are completing the actual application which is due October 1st. They are hoping to get invited to Pierre in mid-November to present on this project. Laura said they do have video footage from a drone of the kids currently walking after school on this route where it shows the kids walking on the road where there is no sidewalk and the need for a safe walking path for these students. This is a rather lengthy process as if they are approved it would be 2022 or 2023 before the project would be completed.

National Walleye Tour: Mike Frei reported that the Wagner/ Pickstown area has been chosen as a sight of the 2020 National Walleye Tour. This tour holds tournaments in four sites per year and the actual tournament will be in our area April 30-May 1, 2020. The Wagner Chamber, City of Pickstown and a couple other individual businesses are sponsoring the event. It involves up to 150 boats for the two day tournament. Plus many of the anglers will pre-fish for 7-10 days prior to the actual tournament. This should fill the local motels for a couple weeks prior to the start of summer. Laura will represent Wagner Chamber and attend the National Championships in Devil’s Lake to bring back more info.

All School Reunion: 2020 is the scheduled year for the next All School Reunion and the committee will be starting planning soon. Linda Soukup has addresses from the last All School Reunion from five years ago, and she also has the checkbook when the new officers are elected. Jeff Doom is Chairman of this committee and will be contacting the other members: Karol Kniffen, Tracy Blaha, Marilee Krcil, Bernie Koupal, Jerry Weber, Marla Hewitt, Bernie Hill and Tammy Stone.

Motion to adjourn by Kathe Henke, second by Linda Soukup.

The following businesses were represented at this month’s Chamber Meeting: City of Wagner, Commercial State Bank, Frei Insurance Agency, Henke Piedmontese, Linda Soukup, SD Game Fish & Parks-North Point, Sip Homestead Farms LLC, Wagner Area Growth, Wagner Area Wellness Consortium, Wagner Building Supply, and Wipf and Cotton LLC.