After two years of planning, the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce is pleased to facilitate the first ever Community Cruise, a unique tour of Hays highlighting future development projects and opportunities for our elected officials.

Partnering with the Hays Convention and Visitors Bureau, Downtown Hays Development Corp., Ellis County Coalition for Economic Development, we are excited to share more information about how we four Welcome Center entities work together for the betterment of our community.

Many of you are aware that one of the Chamber’s roles is to advocate on behalf of our local businesses. However, advocating doesn’t always equal lobbying. Taking firm stances can be polarizing with our members, and our resources don’t allow for us to financially support trips to Topeka or Washington.

This is why we at the Chamber believe so strongly in providing quality and timely information, whether through election forums or seasonal Eggs and Issues. With this year’s Community Cruise, we hope to aid those high-level community decision-makers with important information and awareness of various happenings throughout the city.

So, on Sept. 23, we will be connecting city and county commissioners with Hays USD 489 Board of Education members along with key representatives from Fort Hays State University and North Central Kansas Technical College. Our tour through Hays will show current and future development projects and opportunities.

This event might seem simple in nature, but we believe it will be beneficial to our guests as well as fruitful to all of our Chamber members.
We are always exploring ways to provide more value to our area businesses, so please let us know if there are other ways we can work harder, smarter and more effectively for you.

Tammy Wellbrock is executive director of the Hays Area Chamber of Commerce.