Latest news with #DebbieDoran-Martinez
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Business Expo showcases an expanding community
Mar. 7—MOSES LAKE — The signs of construction were everywhere at Tuesday's Business Expo: fluorescent vests, orange shirts, barrier tape and even a traffic cone wandering around the show. "I think we were pushing about 800 (attendees)," said Debbie Doran-Martinez, president and CEO of the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce, which put on the expo. "We had some come really early, and then some that came halfway through ... We had a little earlier turnout than what we have had in the past. Even though we start at 4 (p.m.), we don't usually see the aisles full until about 5:15, but we had people there (this year) at about a quarter to four." Eighty-five businesses had displays, most representing in some way the theme of the show, which was "Building our Economy for a Prosperous Future." The show occupied both the 4-H Building and the Commercial Building at the Grant County Fairgrounds. The traffic cone was Kar Vanerstrom, representing Nest Property Solutions. "I ordered this (costume) especially for this event," Vanerstrom said. "Lots of pictures, lots of people are like, 'Wow!'" The team at LocalTel took the construction theme in a little different direction, with a booth made of giant Legos and bright Lego shirts. "Our marketing director was trying to think about, OK, what can we do?" said Vicki Rivers. "Because everyone else is going to have hard hats and those things. He said, 'Let's go back to the building blocks, Legos' and here we are." The LocalTel booth was second prize in the Best Booth contest, judged by five attendees who weren't affiliated with any of the exhibitors, Doran-Martinez said. First prize went to the newly chartered Moses Lake Elks Lodge No. 2892. "They actually came in and framed up some stuff," Doran-Martinez said. "It was kind of cool, because they're building a new lodge here (in Moses Lake)." The food was catered by Top Gun Concessions, and beverages were supplied by Shenanigenz. Plans are already underway for next year's expo, Doran-Martinez said. That will be March 3, 2026, and the theme will be "Superheroes." The Elks were the premier sponsor for the Commercial Building, the larger of the two buildings. Their display included swag, children's activities and information about the Elks' activities and a child ID service. "They take all of our information, such as height, weight, parents, address, et cetera, and they enter it into a computer, put it on a flash drive and give it back to you," said Cassie Alumbaugh, whose son, Anthony, was being IDed. "And then if there's any emergencies, you can give that flash drive to the officers." "This is a program started by the Elks in Washington state, and it doesn't cost the parents anything," said Elks member Craig Johnson, who had come down from Colville for the event. "We take their fingerprints, some biographical information, and we give them a flash drive. The flash drive has identification cards on it they can print out and additional information about keeping their kids safe. One of the cool things is (instructions for) how to do a home DNA test. If something happens, the kids are abducted or they come up missing, you give this flash drive to the police, and they can download all this information for you." The Elks don't keep any of the information, he added; it's erased after being saved to the flash drive. Over in the 4-H Building, Bud Clary Auto Group was the premier sponsor. Along with a row of vehicles, the display included a variation of a putting game, where attendees were invited to try to put a golf ball in the hole with a variety of implements including a canoe paddle, a pool cue and a ski pole. "If you make it in the hole, you put your business card in a drawing for a free TV or a sound bar," said Jeremy Vargas, who was manning the game. "Surprisingly, a lot (of people are succeeding). It almost feels rigged, because almost everybody's making it. We have talented people here in Moses Lake."
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Building business
Feb. 24—MOSES LAKE — It's hardly a secret that Moses Lake is growing, and that's why this year's Business Expo on March 4 will have a construction theme. "We've got a lot of construction going on," said Debbie Doran-Martinez, director of the Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce, which hosts the show at the Grant County Fairgrounds. "We've got a new hospital underway. There's a Mexican market going in on Third Avenue ... We've got a lot of housing (construction) going on. In the industrial sector, we have Sila (Nanotechnologies) doing a buildout; we've got Group14 doing a buildout. There's lots of things happening." The theme is "Building our Economy for a Prosperous Future," and the expo promises to be a big one, taking up both the 4-H Building and the Commercial Building. There are 85 businesses coming, and last year's event was attended by more than 700 people, Doran-Martinez said. The premier sponsor, the Moses Lake Elks Club, will have a station set up for the club's youth ID program, which lets parents register information on their children for law enforcement in case a child ever goes missing or needs to be identified. Bud Clary will be the spotlight sponsor and will have vehicles all along one wall of the 4-H Building. In between there are vendors for everything under the sun, as well as food and beverages. The event coincides with the chamber's monthly Business After Hours, so pre-registered chamber members will also receive complimentary beverage tokens. The event is free and family-friendly, Doran-Martinez added. The Business Expo itself has grown over the years from about 20 booths in the early 1990s to filling two buildings the last three years, and it could grow even more, Doran-Martinez said. "We're at capacity, so I can't fit anymore into the space," she said. "So as soon as I'm turning away enough that I can fill half of another building, then we'll launch into a third building." Besides the wide range of businesses on display, there will be some fun activities, Doran-Martinez said. In keeping with the construction theme, there will be some Jenga games for attendees to play, and a blackout bingo card game. "People go around and if they visit 25 of the predetermined vendors that are on the card ... they get put into a drawing for a Skylight Calendar photo frame," she said. "That's kind of a cool, techie item that everybody can use in their household or office." An event like the Business Expo goes a long way toward fostering local commerce, Doran-Martinez said. In an age when it's easier to go online than across town, money spent at local businesses has a ripple effect. "It's critical that we shop local," she said. "If we want to have stores here, we have to support those entities. And shopping local builds our economy. It builds our quality of life. As we shop local, we pay our local taxes which benefit the municipality that offers products and services for our community ... the Amazons aren't sponsoring the Little League baseball team here. They're not donating to the Cancer Foundation. They're not doing those things that local businesses do." Moses Lake Business Expo March 4, 4-7 p.m. Grant County Fairgrounds 3953 Airway Drive NE, Moses Lake More information:
