3-15-2012 meeting of the Rotary Club of Chickasha

The March 15, 2012 meeting of the Rotary Club of Chickasha opened with a prayer, pledge and a song.

Guests included Ralph Bryan.

Mark Tibbetts asked club members to remember the upcoming Friends of the Library Spring Book Sale. He said more than 10,000 books would be for sale on March 29-April 1 at the Chickasha Public Library.

Angela Jones was the Rotarian of the Day. Our guest speaker was Pat Brooks who gave an update on the Chickasha Main Street Association.

The Chickasha Main Street Association was formed to promote and serve the city's downtown business district when runs from the RR tracks to 9th east and from Kansas to the south and Choctaw to the north.

Pat said people form an impression about a community when they first see the downtown business district.

A volunteer board runs the Main Street Association but Brooks said they have decided to hire a director whose job it will be to be a full time advocate for downtown and to help the board implement several goals it wants to accomplish over the next three years. The group has started to raise about $75,000 to get the new director hired.

Among the group's goals is to increase retail shopping opportunities, covered facility at the Depot to house the Farmers Market, enhance dining and entertainment options, connect downtown with the Fairgrounds by trolley, co-ordinate downtown landscaping, continue facade improvement, develop more downtown residential opportunities, help fund Line Creek improvements and provide more parking in the 400 block of Choctaw.

Pat said there are various levels of investment to the campaign ranging from $150 to $2,500.

You can call 224-0787 for more information.

The meeting adjourned after recitation of the Rotary 4-Way Test.