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| Alumni bring in business for Osawatomie |
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| News - Osawatomie | |
| Written by Kevin Gray | |
| Friday, 29 May 2009 08:00 | |
 With the Osawatomie High School Alumni Association’s 114th-annual festivities behind them, local and not-so-local businesses have had time to determine what one of the biggest weekend events of the year left behind.Couple Osawatomie alumni weekend with the Memorial Day holiday, and business owners saw an upswing in earnings, even if it was hard to determine the actual effects of having out-of-town guests in town to visit their alma mater or attend holiday get-togethers. Before the big weekend, Mike Moon could not tell what impact the reunion would have on business at his Moon’s Hometown Market, as the Memorial Day holiday and alumni weekend always have been intertwined. “If it was not alumni weekend, just Memorial Day, we would be getting ready in exactly the same way with the same types of merchandise, and probably in similar quantities,” he said. His merchandise mix and product advertising was heavily slanted toward picnic and cookout items, such as pop, ice, charcoal, beer, beans, chips, buns, grilling meats, sandwich fixings and disposable tableware. “In comparing Memorial-alumni weekend with a typical ‘last week of the month,’ I would expect a 10 to 15 percent overall sales increase,” Moon said. Friday and Saturday were both very strong, he said, “but I was disappointed by Sunday and Monday numbers. I think the rainy start to Monday changed a lot of plans.” Whistle Stop Cafe owner Dixie Benner said her restaurant was very busy over the weekend. “We knew from last year what kind of increase of business there would be, so we were prepared. We knew we would have several alumni groups booking our back room, which they did,” she said. “We were very busy, and it was nice to see faces from last year, both those from out of town and those from town who could get together here.” Tony Savage, who owns The Flood Zone, said he saw a big increase in business. “I had a nice mix of generations, probably alumni back in town,” he said. Dale Morgan, owner of TailGators Sports Bar and Grill, said this is usually his biggest weekend of the year. “I think it definitely was our biggest. We were busy with people coming to town looking to get together with friends and family,” Morgan said. “There was a variety of ages all night long. I think they like TailGators’ size; it’s a good place to congregate, and we provided music, like Corey Powell the deejay on Friday night, who played music for the alumni dance Saturday night.” After the alumni dance, TailGators was inundated with people looking for something else to do until closing time at 2 a.m. “It was definitely a weekend to look forward to for both the alumni and the business owner,” Morgan said. The Best Western in Paola also saw more room bookings than normal, front desk clerk Amy Harrison said. “We had 22 rooms booked May 22 with one room left open, and on May 23, all the rooms were booked,” she said. “The Class of 1949 booked rooms, and I know there were other alumni staying here. We also had a few walk-ins for the Osawatomie alumni.” Lori Needham at Osawatomie’s Hanes Florist said she saw a mixture of alumni and Memorial Day business. “We sold a lot of balloons, some memorial boxes and flowers, as people were back in the area for alumni and Memorial Day,” she said. Another big increase in sales, possibly as high as 14 percent, was reported by Dollar Store manager Vollena Skeens. “We sold a lot of water, and it was hard to keep the shelves filled with more water. We sold charcoal, too, but then a lot of lawn and garden supplies, like potting soil, but on the other hand, I can say we sold a lot of chips, snack food, and water,” Skeens said. City Manager Bret Glendening said the alumni is always a big deal in Osawatomie. “We want returning Trojans to enjoy Osawatomie as much as possible while they are in town, which is why the city typically will start preparing a couple of weeks at least in advance,” he said. “During the week and a half leading up to the event, we will focus almost primarily on preparations. “It means a lot to the city.” The city wants visitors to leave with a great impression, Glendening said. “Of course, the more we see of them, the better. Our hope is that they come back as often as possible, and not just for one weekend a year,” he said. “I feel like if we can send them back home with improving impressions of the positive direction Osawatomie is headed in each year, then we will have a better chance of seeing them in Osawatomie permanently.” Glendening and Police Chief Mike Stiles pitched in to help city crews prepare the town for visitors. “Stiles and I, knowing that city crews were busy mowing and painting and doing a lot of other things in preparation for the weekend, decided that we would take a couple of hours and help residents by picking up brush. We filled five truckloads,” Glendening said. “It isn’t something the city does normally, but with the pending weekend, we did want everything to look as good as possible.” The real credit, he said, should go to the city crews. “This is just more evidence in my mind that we have an outstanding group of employees who take great pride in their work and their community,” he said. Osawatomie really is a great community in which to live and raise a family, Glendening said. “Our school system is top notch, as is evidenced by the longstanding alumni weekend. The more people we can get to recognize this and remember it, the better off we are as a community, because it will become a place where people want to live,” he said.
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