Annual Holiday Craft Show Today at Perry’s McCreary Community Building
Several different local sellers will be set up in the gymnasium of the McCreary Community Building this Saturday for the annual Holiday Craft Show.
Bev Wesley started the local event around a decade ago as a way to bring people to town and it has continued to grow ever since.
Plus, Parks and Recreation Director Jeff Lamoureux says it’s also just another great chance to showcase Perry. He says not only will people come get ideas and purchase goods from the vendors, they may also fill up on gas, pick up a sandwich or find someone else in Perry that makes them want to return.
The craft show takes place Saturday from 9am until 3pm.
Above Normal Snowfall Already This Month
It has been a cold week, with more than average amounts of snow across the Raccoon River Valley area.
While we’re behind in terms of total precipitation received compared to the normal amounts, all three of our local weather reporting areas have registered more snow in the first couple weeks than we typically do all month.
According to the National Weather Service, Perry has received 3.2 inches of snow so far, Jefferson has seen just under three inches and Guthrie Center has had two inches this November.
Usually we see between 1.6 and 2.2 inches of snow this month, though all three areas typically register around two inches of total precipitation in November and only between 0.11 and 0.29 inches has been recorded thus far.
Hotel Pattee Selected as Visitor’s Choice Hotel of the Year
More positive news for the Hotel Pattee…
Perry’s boutique 40 room hotel has been selected as Hotel of the Year, a Visitor’s Choice award from the Greater Des Moines Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.
Owners Jay and Denise Hartz accepted the award at the organization’s annual celebration in Des Moines Tuesday evening.
Mayor Jay Pattee was also at the celebration and says sitting among the “who’s who” of Des Moines in the World Food Building and hearing (The Hotel Pattee) being honored was nothing short of exciting. .
“What’s so cool about this is its implication for future business at the hotel” says the Mayor. He adds that every time a visitor comes to Perry and stays at the hotel, they experience the town and hopefully leave behind some dollars. “How lucky we are to have Jay and Denise here in Perry. It’s truly amazing what they’ve accomplished in one short year”.
A total of 11 Champion Awards were given out at the event, along with three Visitor’s Choice awards.
Tax Increment Financing Continues to Work for the City of Perry
Tax Increment Financing is a term we often hear when it comes to local government business, but what exactly does it mean and what’s the purpose?
Perry City Administrator Butch Niebuhr says the legislature makes it mandatory for Cities to share information on these funds.
“In the last couple of years the legislature has put together reporting mechanisms that cities and counties have to do to report to the county auditor, which in turn goes to the state. (This is so that) anybody can go online or look and see how those TIF dollars are being spent. The increment is the difference between an area, whether it’s blighted or not used, and as it grew now that new tax which the city can capture to bring utilities to the site, to get streets to the site, or whatever to make that development happen” says Niebuhr.
He says TIF districts continue to be beneficial for Perry.
“TIF is a great too. Especially for Perry and what we’ve done with it with the business park, in the downtown area and on the bypass with Highway 141. Perry’s used it in the way it’s intended to be used, it’s really worked out well for us. Some communities have taken it to a different level and that’s what the legislature gets kind of worried about because some communities TIF their whole communities. Perry hasn’t done that, we actually target areas and that’s what it’s intended for.”
This week, the Perry City Council certified their Tax Increment Financing Debt to the County Auditor’s office. Perry is requesting $525,462 in fiscal year 2016.
Perry Chamber Board Looking to Redefine Their Goals and Purpose
The Perry Area Chamber of Commerce is looking to refocus in the coming months.
Executive Director Bob Wilson says the board of directors plan to bring an outsider in to come help facilitate the discussion.
“I think the Chamber does a great job and we’re doing a lot of great things, we have a really active board, but I think we have the potential right now to restructure a little bit and tighten up the ship, really move our focus into a couple more defined directions. We’re going to do that through a strategic planning session with a gentleman whose expertise is Chambers and Chamber board and staff relations and interactions, and kind of our expectations. From there we branch it out to our goals and a five year plan and how we can better serve the membership” says Wilson.
The goal is to set up the planning session in the next couple months and start 2015 off on a potentially new and refreshed direction.