8 minute read
Chamber Celebrates 50 Years
Officially organized in 1975, the Gardner Chamber of Commerce continues to spotlight the community.
Article by Amber Fraley and Jean Teller
Photography courtesy Gardner Chamber of Commerce
Talk to current and former members of the Gardner Chamber of Commerce, and a theme quickly emerges: community.
Amateur historian Claude Steed found the unofficial beginnings of the Gardner Chamber go back much further than 50 years, to at least 1956 when the first group numbered 28 members. But 1973 was the year local chiropractor Dr. David Matheny began rallying the area business community to commit to Gardner.
“He felt Gardner was really growing and moving forward and could stand to have an organization that got behind that,” Steed says. Matheny organized a letter-writing campaign to local business owners, who voted to create an official chamber of commerce. That meant filing the proper paperwork for a nonprofit organization in 1975, and Matheny served as the first chamber president, a position he held for two years. In those early years, Steed served on the chamber board and represented Farmer’s Bank, where he worked.
“The chamber made a real good effort to become a presence and become impactful and make a difference,” Steed says.
The chamber had approximately 60 members in 1975 and was known as the Gardner Area Chamber of Commerce. Later name changes included Southwest Johnson County Chamber of Commerce, Gardner-Edgerton Chamber of Commerce, and finally, Gardner Chamber of Commerce.
More Than Business
From the beginning, the chamber was never just about business, Steed says. It’s always been about promoting the City of Gardner and surrounding areas to businesses outside of Gardner. “I don’t even think it was a term at the time, but networking—just getting together with other people in business and people in the community,” Steed says.
Nine area businessmen were elected to the board of directors during the reorganization, including Matheny.
In a 1982 newspaper interview, Matheny said, “After the letter we found that people were really interested in serving the community and the thing just kind of took off by itself.”
The bylaws were broadened at that time to allow more people to join the organization and to address areas that were not previously covered. Each member of the chamber was to be part of a working committee; an executive board and committee chairs coordinated activities.
“The committee system spread the work through the organization and allowed everyone to have their say,” Matheny said in 1982. “When you do that you usually come up with good solutions.”
Change in Organization
In 2000, the chamber hired its first executive director, Cherlyn White-Conklin. The chamber board president at the time, Sherry Laquet, said in a newspaper article that the change from a volunteer staff to a paid professional was long overdue. “This is something we’ve been working toward for two years. Clearly we need someone in our office who is totally committed to the chamber.”
At the time, White-Conklin said her first goal was to increase participation by the city and business owners. “This city has all kinds of opportunities to offer. It’s growing and has an excellent location,” she said.
In 2007, the chamber moved offices to its current location inside the Central Bank of the Midwest (formerly the First Kansas Bank) at 109 E. Main St. Previously the chamber office was located at the Senior Center and then at Gardner National Bank.
By 2009, the chamber’s top spot had changed from executive director to president, and former mayor Carol Lehman was named interim president in May of that year and served for a few months until the chamber could hire a new president. Former president Peter Solie had stepped down in April.
Solie had taken over when White-Conklin left; he was followed by Steve Devore, Jason Camis, who was named executive director in October 2014, and current president & CEO Jason Leib, who joined the staff in 2022.
Chamber Accomplishments
Shirley Bruce Brown-VanArsdale is a long-time Gardner resident, and she’s also served twice as the chamber board president.
During Carol Lehman’s time as mayor, Brown-VanArsdale says, the residents of Gardner had to pay long-distance charges to call anywhere in the Kansas City Metro area. “It was a burden on small businesses,” she said. “No one would move here with the extra rates.”
The chamber worked with the phone company to eliminate those long-distance charges, Brown-VanArsdale says, and it was key to helping the city grow.
Lehman agrees. “There was a charge to even call Olathe. We worked with (the phone company) to implement metro dialing, and everything opened up for Gardner. … It was interesting because people voted on it. (The phone company) held a vote to make sure customers were in favor of the extra charge added to their phone bills.” She also says the phone company allowed anyone to opt out if they didn’t want to pay that extra charge. Lehman was mayor from 1989 to 2009.
The chamber also spearheaded the celebration of the U.S. bicentennial in 1976. “The whole town did it,” Brown-VanArsdale says. “It was the most memorable thing this town did together.”
Brown-VanArsdale remembers the days when the chamber was run strictly by volunteers. “Now it’s a professional chamber,” she says. “It’s had its ups and downs, but there is nothing better for welcoming people and new businesses. We’re fortunate to have the current chamber.”
Lehman recalled a time when the chamber and city cooperated to bring to fruition the Southwest Johnson County Economic Development Corp, which was instrumental in representing the area to potential developers and businesses before disbanding. It was an effort between The Gardner News, New Century Air Center, the chamber and the city, she says. “It helped drive and direct the development of Gardner, and the chamber was behind the city in that effort.”
Today’s Chamber
Stacy Boyajian is a longtime member of the Gardner Chamber and now works part-time for the chamber in member relations. She and her husband, Sam, purchased the Bill Bond Pharmacy in 1997, and at the time, they lived in Lenexa. Changing the business name to Gardner Pharmacy, the couple moved their family to Gardner that same year.
“We felt very strongly that we were not only purchasing a business in the community, but that we literally needed to be a part of the community and raise our kids in this community,” she says. That also meant joining the chamber, and even though the Boyajians no longer own the pharmacy, they are still chamber members.
Boyajian leads the planning of most of the events for the chamber, including the Gardner Chamber Spring Swing Scramble, the annual Gardner Sporting Clay Shoot, and the Women in Business Breakfast. She’ll also be helping to plan the 50th-anniversary celebration next year, to be held in conjunction with the annual dinner in April.
“We feel like it’s our responsibility and our role to elevate the entire community,” says Leib. To that end, Gardner Chamber of Commerce events are never “members only.” Anyone is welcome to attend chamber events, and the chamber tries to hold events that appeal to a broad range of tastes and interests. “(Businesses) want to get the word out and let people know about their business to anyone who wants to show up. Those conversations and interactions can lead to beneficial results for any of the parties, so the more people, the better off we are,” he says.
Of course, they hope businesses do decide to join, and today membership has risen to approximately 220 members. Members enjoy perks such as educational resources and advocacy at the local, state or national level. Belonging to the chamber can provide leverage to businesses that they wouldn’t necessarily have on their own, Leib says, and the services the chamber provides can be as simple as help with grant writing or as important as communicating with city officials, legislators and state departments.
“Gardner is very lucky to have the current chamber staff. An active chamber says the businesses are all enjoying success because of the chamber efforts,” Lehman says. “The staff works hard to make members feel included and that the businesses know the chamber is there to help in any way possible.”
For More
Gardner Chamber of Commerce
P.O. Box 402
109 E. Main St.
Gardner, KS 66030
913-856-6464
email: info@gardnerchamber.com
