A message from Deidre Choat-Brown Olney Chamber of Commerce

A message from Deidre Choat-Brown Olney Chamber of Commerce

This is the first big event I have had the pleasure of organizing since starting my job as director of the Chamber of Commerce in January of this year. At times, there were definitely fears of some little detail being forgotten, or not advertising the event enough. I had great help getting the word out between advertising in the Olney Enterprise Newspaper, Dan Branum speaking on Graham’s radio station 100.5FM, and our very own Mayor Rue Rogers and First Baptist Church pastor Chad Edgington speaking on the event at KFDX Newschannel 3 the morning of July 1st. I also had posters made with the awesome logo and a photo of our headlining performer, Jon Hope. All of these methods of advertising the event resulted in over 1,000 people in attendance, food trucks selling out, and an overall successful event!

The way everyone came together to help make this event a success blew me away. The amount of help that I had conducting this event was astonishing and made the evening playout without any issues whatsoever. We had volunteers to help with everything from parking to manning the Cub Zone (kid’s entertainment area). Dan Branum did an outstanding job keeping everything flowing with the concert and band members. Tatum Wiley and Jason Pack directed our food vendors, merchandise vendors and set them up for success. Jason then did an amazing job with directing traffic and getting everyone parked. Katie Carls worked our tent where she sold t shirts and 4th of July flair. Tammy Montgomery and her husband, Kendall, stayed on top of keeping everything clean and picked-up. Lyndsey Miller kept kids in line at the bounce houses with the help of high school volunteers. Will Dinwiddie ensured everything went smoothly with electricity for running the Cub Zone. Sammy Livingston kept up with providing bottled water to band members. Anna Rogers and I both floated all areas of the event ensuring everything was going smoothly. The Olney Country Club staff did an outstanding job with alcohol sales and managing the bathrooms.

The performances were top-notch. The stage worked out beautifully set up on the driving range, tents were set up beautifully, and the fireworks - oh man, I felt like I was at Disneyland at closing time! Incredible! All of the credit for that goes to our Title Sponsor, Tower Extrusions and to our partnering sponsors for helping us fund this spectacular event!

A big thanks to the Olney Recreation Association for allowing us to throw this big American Independence Day celebration ON the golf course. It was the perfect location.

A huge shout out to the Chamber of Commerce board president, Anna Rogers. This is a woman who wants to see Olney grow and succeed. She has so many great ideas and we love to bounce those thoughts off of one another and make things happen for Olney. She has selflessly dedicated many hours to helping with events put on by the Chamber and I couldn’t imagine diving into this position of directing a Chamber of Commerce without her guidance and encouragement. For Olney in America, she was always willing to help with whatever issue arose in planning the event.

I want to also thank the folks from Keep Olney Beautiful, the City of Olney, and Olney VFD. Their assistance at the event made for a smooth and very fun evening! Also to the Olney EMS team and Olney Police Department. Great job guys! Olney is a wonderful community made up of some incredible individuals. I am very excited to be here in Olney serving the community and helping to make it the very best place to live and work! This is what this event was all about - showcasing Olney and everything we have to offer here! We plan to grow this event and make it even better in the years to come. Thank you to the community of Olney and for all of the positive feedback on Olney in America 2021! We are so glad everyone enjoyed themselves!

PARADE: Thank you to everyone who came out for the Old-Fashioned 4th of July Parade. What really made this parade was the participants and well-decorated floats, golf carts, atvs, bicycles, etc. and also our local Emergency Service vehicles. I want to give a special shout-out to the Olney Heritage Museum for rounding up 20 US Veterans to ride on a float in the parade. Recognizing these heroes, in my opinion, was the most important part of the series of celebrations, because without these individuals who fought for America and our freedom, America would not be the great country it is. Lastly, i’d like to thank William Sadler for assisting in the parade lineup, Chad Edgington for being our MC, and a big thanks to our event sponsor, Cub Nutrition.