by Sherry Goodyear
SPRINGER — At their monthly meeting on July 8, the Springer Chamber of Commerce had several pertinent items to discuss. The chamber logo will be put on the welcome signs appearing at the main entrances of town. The chamber is considering commissioning Cecelia Glassman’s Art Class of Springer Schools to do the work. This is a project Lodger’s Tax can pay for. They will also be using Lodger’s Tax to pay for trinkets to be thrown at the Colfax County Fair in August. On July 10, the third free concert in the park was put on by Cimarron resident, Ry Taylor. The concert was from 7-9 pm, the evening was pleasant, and the crowd was one of the largest of the summer.
The chamber has been attempting to get a farmers market going on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month, but the problem is that there really aren’t a lot of local farmers in the area with fresh produce to sell. The chamber is a member of the Farmers Market Association of Santa Fe which has strict rules about how a farmers market is supposed to look, and so far the Springer Farmers Market hasn’t been living up to those expectations. It was decided that rather than having a Farmer’s Market, they will put on a Summer Market so the parameters of what can be sold can be more lenient.
The chamber’s next community yard sale will be held on July 18 from 9 am to 2 pm. Each Chamber member is asked to donate two baked items to be sold at the Chamber’s booth for a fund raiser.
In terms of making people more aware of Springer and what is going on here, the goal is for everyone in the chamber who is on Facebook to share things the chamber posts. Chamber President Anna Phillips would also like to make a tri-fold brochure to put in visitors’ centers around the state showing what Springer has to offer. It was suggested Springer High School students might be commissioned to do this.
On March 15, 2015, Tim Hagaman wrote and directed a reenactment of a gun battle that occurred in the courtyard of Museum Park which contributed immensely to the ending of the ten year long Colfax County War. Now there is a video of this reenactment posted on YouTube that people can watch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpPNsK9YL88. Hagaman would like to make the reenactment an annual event on its anniversary of March 15.
Once the meeting was adjourned, the members in attendance went to Wells Fargo Bank where the Springer Chamber recognized them for their years of service to the Springer community. The bank was originally called Citizens State Bank and was opened in Mills, New Mexico on April 29, 1916 before it was eventually moved to Springer. Since 1916 the bank has changed names several times before being bought out by Wells Fargo in 1995.
