Nikole Babb
nbabb@cherryroad.com
The El Dorado Chamber of Commerce celebrated another year of service to the business community on the evening of Thursday, February 27. The Civic Center packed in 170 attendees including members, guest speakers and organizational personnel. The evening concluded with a catered dinner by Great Western Dining, guest speaker and awards ceremony.
In the pamphlet guests had at their seats, the Chamber called out their year by the numbers. In 2024 the Chamber ended with 215 members, including 20 new members. They hosted 53 events drawing 500 attendees to seven of their major events. Each month they hosted a Coffee Chat, which is hosted at the first Wednesday at the Civic Center at 8am. In total, 190 people attended the chats in total. They hosted 13 ribbon cuttings for new businesses or businesses that moved or experienced a remodel.
In addition, the Chamber took on hosting two new events, Witches Night Out and the Downtown El Dorado Market.
The awards given out, which were voted on the Board of Directors and Chamber members included:
Large Business of the Year: Butler Community College
Small Business of the Year: Carlson & Kirby-Morris Funeral Home
Non-Profit of the Year: Branches Pregnancy and Family Center
Entrepreneur of the Year: Montana Moran of Empire Fitness, ICI and SunGroup
Community Champion: Vince Haines of Gravity Works
Ambassador of the Year: Nikole Babb
The El Dorado Chamber of Commerce is a non-profit organization founded in May 1921, branching from the Kansas Chamber of Commerce. They employ three employees, an Executive Director, Greg Mudd, Executive Assistance Paige McDaniels and an accountant. The Board of Directors includes President Nick Engles of Engles Property Management, Shanon Beal of Community Bank of Kansas, McLaren Armstrong of Gravity Works, and Nikole Babb of the Butler County Times-Gazette.
The Chamber’s mission, as read on their website, is “to develop and enhance the economic vitality of businesses through community leadership, education, advocacy, and relationship development.”
The organization’s funding comes from member dues and event hostings such as the annual dinner, mud volleyball tournament, Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast, and others. The employees focus on five key topics: Business outreach and promotion, Legislative advocacy for all business, Business education and development, Fostering and building business relations, and small business economic development and expansion.
