MORRILTON — No actual cows or pigs will be involved, but the Morrilton Area Chamber of Commerce will hold a “barn-raising” event Jan. 29 to recruit committee members for the chamber and the Grow Morrilton initiative.
The barn-raising will be held from 5-7 p.m. at the chamber office in downtown Morrilton, 115 E. Broadway St.
Chamber board member Morgan Zimmerman said that in 2013, chamber officials asked residents of Morrilton and Conway County to fill out an online survey about the area to come up with priorities for the future.
More than 600 people responded, Zimmerman said, including her.
“That was before my time — I was not on the board when it started,” she said.
She said the survey was advertised on a billboard, in a newspaper and by former chamber president and CEO Brandon Baker, who spoke about the effort to civic clubs. “It was publicized widely,” Zimmerman said, and results were received toward the end of 2013.
“Brandon had started to work on a plan,” she said. He left the chamber in May to take another position. Cody Hill, director of membership and events since 2012, was named interim CEO.
The process was extended, Zimmerman said, because of the transition in leadership. Jerry L. Smith was hired as president and CEO in August, and the push for a plan was renewed.
A steering committee of residents looked at the survey results and comments and created priorities, which were Keep Morrilton Memorable, Keep Morrilton Creative, Keep Morrilton Clean, Keep Morrilton Building, Keep Morrilton Active and Keep Morrilton Learning.
“Now we’ve transferred them to committee titles, as well,” Hill said. “You can be on two or three different committees. Not everyone has to do all the work, but they are coming up with plans and processes.”
The committee can take on a project or suggest it for another group. For example, Hill said, “They may say, ‘Hey, Rotary Club, y’all were looking for a project. Here’s something we came up with — we want to plant flowers downtown.’
“The reasoning behind the barn-raising, and that was really Jerry’s idea — it’s meant to try to make it fun,” Zimmerman said. She said she didn’t know what a barn-raising was, and she had to research it. “Back in the day,” she said, when someone needed a barn, “the whole community would come together to make it happen. We want this to be a community-driven effort.”
Hill said the idea is to get momentum going and make serving on a committee fun.
“The citizens spoke, so with the results, we thought this would be a good way to get them involved and kind of fired up. At the same time, we had kind of addressed some standing committees with the chamber,” he said. Hill said a few standing committees of the chamber had become “a little defunct, if you will,” and members will be recruited for those committees.
To help them inject enthusiasm into their meetings, Hill said, a Fun Committee was created, with Zimmerman as the chairwoman.
“That is our first committee to get boots on the ground,” he said. “They are not tasked with doing events or logistics or things like that. What they are tasked with is meeting regularly and coming up with ideas and themes and things to pass on to other committee chairs to make their meetings fun.”
Hill said the analogy of the barn-raising is that a community helped a family raise a barn to help them become “stable and strong,” and the same can be done in a community when residents pull together.
“What my goal is,” Hill said, “is this whole central theme of the barn-raising we’re kicking off at the beginning of the year. Our chamber banquet is almost at the end of the year, in November. We may wrap the year up with the same theme and go over what’s accomplished and see the barn raised, if you will. That’s not 100 percent set in stone, carved out on a tablet.”
Zimmerman said the barn-raising theme will be carried throughout the year at other events. In the chamber office, a three-dimensional cardboard barn is on display, which Hill said was once used on a parade float, “and there’s a fake cow in front of it.”
At the recruitment event Jan. 29, committee chairs will have cowbells to ring when volunteers join their committees, Zimmerman said.
“We really want to get the youth involved, too,” she said. “We want people to feel like they can bring their kids to an event. Kids can volunteer. That’s how you get the next generation involved. Maybe your family wants to adopt a street, and that’s part of Keep Morrilton Clean.”
The public is invited to attend the Jan. 29 event. More information is available by calling the chamber at (501) 354-2393.
“We want it to be fun and entertaining,” Hill said. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Senior writer Tammy Keith can be reached at (501) 327-0370 or tkeith@arkansasonline.com.