Hays Chamber Education Appreciation Dinner set for August 30

On this episode of the Post Podcast Hays Chamber president and CEO Sarah Wasinger along with Rose Garden Banquet Hall owner Kim Barnes discuss the upcoming Education Appreciation Dinner.

 

Transcript:

EDITORS NOTE: Transcripts are provided by an automated service and are not verified for accuracy.

 

James Bell 

The Hayes chambers educators Appreciation Day is scheduled for the end of this month from the Hayes chamber president and CEO Sarah wall singer along with owner and operator of the Rose Garden banquet hall and catering Kim Barnes stopped by to share some of the details on this episode of the post podcast.

 

Sarah Wasinger 

We are so excited. Obviously, our Ellis County educators are a great group of men and women who do such important work to educate our youth in our county. And you know, the byproduct of their hard work is people being able to join our workforce. So we can't think of a better reason to celebrate at the end of this month. So it'll be August 30. And that's going to be at the Rose Garden, banquet hall and catering, the event will kick off at five o'clock and we will wrap up around 7am. But we would be remiss to not share all of the businesses that support this event. Without them this wouldn't even be possible. So I'd like to just give a thank you to M price bank and enter ces as well as Golden belt bank, Midwest energy, of course, Rose Garden banquet hall and catering, sunflower bank, thirsties, brew, Pub and Grill and Walmart. They are our premier sponsors. So they really kind of make sure that this event is wonderful for for our educators. And we also have a few other sponsors, Glassman Corporation, golden plains credit union, the Hays Convention and Visitor's Bureau and our wonderful women link, they actually contribute different things to their backs that we give away that night.

 

James Bell 

Very cool, very cool. Some really good community partners, and I love to hear that so many are willing to help and step up and recognize our area educators. Yes.

 

Sarah Wasinger 

And we would be remiss to not include our chamber ambassadors. They also help plan that event and will be there to greet our guests that evening, as well as our chamber staff.

 

James Bell 

Yeah, absolutely. Love it. But you know, the highlight of the night I think is the teachers. Well, I guess the teachers, obviously.

 

Sarah Wasinger 

But I know you're gonna say because I'm hungry, and I haven't eaten yet. Exactly what I was thinking. So we have Kim Barnes here she is the owner and operator at Rose Garden, banquet hall and catering. And Kim, I'm gonna let you tell us about the delicious meal but the educators can expect to enjoy that night.

 

Kim Barnes 

Well, Sarah, we're happy to have the educators back again this year. Of course, we're going to feature 100 Pecan chicken. If you're not a fan of the sweet chicken, we'll have the country gravy on the side. So you can have your chicken fried chicken, or delicious loaded potatoes, vegetable rolls, salad, and of course, our delicious desserts.

 

Sarah Wasinger 

And you guys work really hard to make that an extra special event. And I think you told us this year, there's going to be a dessert assortment, is that right?

 

Kim Barnes 

That's right, we'll have all different kinds of desserts to choose from.

 

Sarah Wasinger 

And I believe that we are also offering a cash bar at this event. Obviously, you know, it's the start of a school year, maybe it would be a great opportunity to have, you know, a nice beverage. Um, so we'll even have a bartender on hand to make some cold drinks. Of course, coffee, tea and water will also be available of course.

 

James Bell 

Coffee, tea and water. That's okay, I guess but cash bar why? Well,

 

Sarah Wasinger 

I mean, it's almost Kenny. So

 

James Bell 

that's what I mean, like, not even sure why you'd mess with anything other beer in Ellis County, truly. But maybe that's just me. I suppose there's there's some wine drinkers out there got some beautiful wineries here in the area?

 

Sarah Wasinger 

We do we do? Absolutely. Well, one thing that we love is working with our area administrators, of course, we could not put this event together without their help. And we appreciate the opportunity to bring our, you know, people who have been in the educational system for quite a while. It's great to, you know, see faces that you're already familiar with and reacquaint yourself with them. But also it's a nice way for us to introduce our new educator. So we work with each of the schools and Ellis County and they provide us with a list of names of people who will be in attendance who are new. And it's just a nice way for the new folks to kind of feel, you know, welcomed into the educational community for Ellis County, but also kind of meet some of their colleagues that they'll be working with throughout the year.

 

James Bell 

Yeah, absolutely. You know, I was kind of surprised I was at an event for for the school. I've got kids in school here in the in the Hayes district and kind of surprised by how many new teachers they had. There was a lot of them there. And that's, I think it's excellent. We're bringing in that young talent. And even my daughter, her teacher last year was brand new out of college local, she'd been here at Hayes I've known her for a while but stepped into the role went through school and and that's awesome that they get to not only do that have those opportunities here, but then you guys putting on an event like this and exactly they get to meet each other and have that interaction outside of the school building, which I think is just so vital for the kind of the I don't know, what's the right word? Good feelings. Yeah. That's not it, but it will goodwill of the school. Well, no, not that either. But

 

Sarah Wasinger 

I don't. Well, we'll keep going.

 

James Bell 

Yeah, exactly. I'll be quiet. Let's talk more about food. Well,

 

Sarah Wasinger 

I want we're gonna talk a little bit about rose garden here in a few minutes. But I did want to share we are doing swag bags again this year. And so those puppies are going to be full of a lot of wonderful merchandise and that our sponsors have provided. And the first 150 People who come that evening will actually get a swag bag. So if you want to make sure you get one of those bags, make sure you come, you know, right around the five o'clock time. And we also have some large cash prizes. And by large, I mean $500.03 of them. So that's a good way to start school year. And then chamber checks and school supplies. Of course, you can't have an education appreciation event without giving away some school supplies. We know our educators spend a lot of their own money to prepare their classrooms, and even get their extra time over this summer to make things right. So, um, hopefully we'll have a few folks who can win some of those goodies and utilize some of their classroom. Absolutely. Now, Kim, I want you to talk a little bit about the photo booth.

 

Kim Barnes 

Oh, thanks, Sarah. Yeah, we have what's called the magic mirror photo booth. It's a five foot tall touch screen, photo booth, you can do digital prints, you can actually print off like a regular photo booth you see in a mall, we are going to have that setup for this particular event. There's lots of props take all kinds of fun pictures.

 

Sarah Wasinger 

So we are going to our sponsors, of course are going to pay for the print. So they can even walk away with a nice photo with their friends that night if they want to.

 

James Bell 

That's so cool. I love that, you know, I've been to a few weddings where they've done that, and they just love it. It's such a neat idea to commemorate the event to remember the event. And I don't know people get in that photo booth and they let loose a little bit slowly to have a little bit of fun. Well,

 

Sarah Wasinger 

one thing I wanted to share with Kim, and just with the listeners at home, we work with Kim throughout the year, whether it be some of our ambassador lunches or a membership lunches, of course, this event, she really does go out of her way with her staff to take excellent care of us. And everything is set up so nice when we get there, um, for our events, and we just want to say thank you for the partnership that we have built together. And I think that might be a good segue to talk about all the different things that you offer at Rose Garden.

 

Kim Barnes 

Well, at the Rose Garden, you know, we're a 14,000 square foot banquet hall, I've got the large banquet room and the smaller room, which is great for your big German weddings and anniversaries. But we also do smaller things, you know, birthday parties meetings, we can accommodate groups of any size, got a large dance floor. And of course, lots of lots of decor items, you know, for all those special events,

 

Sarah Wasinger 

and you even done funeral dinners, I think and you host events throughout the week as well as that right. I think sometimes people forget about those events that happen in the evening during the week,

 

Kim Barnes 

right. And we've even had a lot of options out there. It's just a great space for whatever event you have going on.

 

Sarah Wasinger 

And I think she's even had toy collectors.

 

James Bell 

I was gonna say that's my favorite. The one that sticks out to me is the toy show that's out there. And and from my understanding, they're there. they've outgrown the space because they're doing so well. But I love going down there for the toy show. It's a perfect venue for

 

Kim Barnes 

that. Right. I think we'll have them here one more year. And then they've had to move on to a bigger space, but it's always fun to have them come out.

 

Sarah Wasinger 

Well, Kim, I know that there are a lot of special occasions that happen in the fall. Do you want to talk a little bit maybe about Christmas parties or different things? And are you taking, you know, appointments first scheduling those out in advance.

 

Kim Barnes 

I do have limited spots available for this fall. But there still are a few dates out there if you've got a wedding or a special event coming up. My phone's been ringing in quite a bit trying to get those Christmas parties booked. So give me a call as soon as you can. If you're looking to book a Christmas party, of course we'll have our Thanksgiving Day buffet again this year. We're looking forward to having everyone come out for that as well. And not only do we cater at our place, but we can we can travel and caterer at your place as well.

 

James Bell 

Just out of curiosity cam How far do you go out? Is it just haze or can you go Ellis County

 

Kim Barnes 

we've been the great Ben Ross center, Ross wall Keaney. We've been out to Shiloh vineyard. So usually about an hour is a good distance for us to

 

James Bell 

1. So most likely anybody listening if you need a gator rose garden banquet, all they're there for you

 

 

will take care of you love it.

 

Sarah Wasinger 

So Kim, before we wrap up, you are on Facebook. So where do people go to pay attention to what you have going on? Um, because I know that you still serve dinners every once in a while on certain evenings throughout the month as well.

 

Kim Barnes 

Right? We'll do takeout meals you can call and order your takeout meal. I do post that on Facebook first and it's Rose Garden event center on the Facebook and or you can always give me a call. We also posted on their size. If you're traveling down the highway, you'll see our sign and we'll post event sets coming up. Very cool.

 

James Bell 

Love it. Love it. Yeah. One of those one of those things, one of those businesses in Hays I think everybody has little connection to everybody's had, you know, been to an event either at the building or had the food catered. And Kim, thanks so much for what you do for the community. Thank you, Sara. We've got we've got just a couple minutes left, we've got to talk calendar because you've got all kinds of cool events coming up.

 

Sarah Wasinger 

We do so today at noon we have our H yp connection lunch, it will be at Thursday's brew pub and grill on their venue side. And Brandon Heinz is going to be our guest speaker. He is the director of the haze Public Library. And this men's lunch is sponsored by Glassman Corporation. And we also have the third Thursday social for the hazing professionals that will be held at the Paisley para wine bar bistro and market on August 18. So Thursday at 5:15pm. We're excited to have our Of course, our chamber chats on Friday at 9am. And we will be with the fhsu athletic auction at the Schmidt bagel indoor training facility. So they have a lot of great items up for grabs. And it'll be a great way to kind of get a sneak peek at those. And then last but not least, our ambassador lunch will be at Rose Garden banquet hall and catering at noon. Want to give a quick plug our deadline for folks to apply for chamber blue of Kansas, that survey window closest this Thursday. A couple days. If you don't participate in that now, you won't be eligible to join the plan at least starting off right away. We have over 23,000 people who are in the pool right now. And that represents over 1500 Different businesses across the state of Kansas. Wow, that's awesome.

 

James Bell 

Huge, but no commitment right now signing up just kind of gets you the information. And it's

 

Sarah Wasinger 

just a business employer surveys so it's a very quick process. Um, so if you're even just curious to see what the prices will come back as now's the time to get that survey taken and that is available on our website as chamber.com as chamber.com