On November 27th, 2023, Perry Thompson, CEO and President of Hat Creek Construction & Materials, Inc., and Melanie Westbrook, Broker/Owner of Sierra Desert Properties and President of the Lassen County Chamber of Commerce, joined JDX KSUE for a radio interview on the upcoming Magical Country Christmas and how the Chamber benefits the community.
HIGHLIGHTS:
LISTEN:
“We've been a member for years, but one of our core company core values, is community. And I think the Chamber represents the very best of what community is all about. And Melanie and Kelly and her team and their team have done an incredible job. If you're complaining about there's nothing to do in Susanville, you're not checking out their calendar because they are killing it. There are so many positive things to do. We just participated in the Halloween thing and the safe and sane Halloween. It was incredible” – Perry Thompson, President and CEO of Hat Creek Construction & Materials, Inc.
“We appreciate Perry and Hat Creek stepping in on our [Christmas] fireworks. Did double from what our previous had been for, I don't know, 15 years or so. So, stepping in to help us with that cost, it's amazing. We really appreciate it.” – Melanie Westbrook, Broker/Owner of Sierra Desert Properties and President of the Lassen County Chamber of Commerce
ROUGH TRANSCRIPT:
00:00:00
So we have Perry Thompson and Melanie Westbrook. And so Melanie, you're with the Lassen County Chamber of Commerce. Perry, you're with Hat Creek. What's your position over there?
00:00:12
I’m the president of Hat Creek Construction.
00:00:18
I'm also the owner of Sierra Desert Properties here in town.
00:00:27
And do you guys have an event coming up? Yes, we do. We have Magical Country Christmas coming up this Saturday from 4 to 7 uptown in our historic district.
00:00:36
Okay. And so what do we get to look forward to on this magical country Christmas program?
00:00:44
Well, so again, once again. So it's Saturday, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. we've extended it a little bit. And uptown we're going to have tons of vendors, lots of food vendors, craft vendors, you know. So bring the kids out. There'll be something to grab to eat or munch on. Lots of hot cocoa popcorn always. We have the hot toddy walk. So we have several businesses that you can go around and get a hot toddy for the adults that, you know, trying to stay warm out there. We have performances by jazz dance studio always. You know, the Kickouts come out and do their Christmas little show for us. The parade, barring weather, should start promptly at 6 p.m. and the weather's supposed to be a lot better this year than it was last year.
00:01:28
Except last year was magical though with the snow. It did pose a few problems, but we definitely had a beautiful Christmas last year. It was gorgeous. Yeah, so.
00:01:41
So I'm assuming you're going to have the same as last year. You're going to have the fireworks because that's probably the best show, always fireworks.
00:01:48
It gives you that Hallmark movie moment. Yes it does.
00:01:52
I got a little some a small video of me and my daughter. We ran up there at the top and we got the fireworks going off in the background. So it's definitely that Hallmark moment kind of video-type thing.
00:02:03
Yes, yes, no definitely is. So there will be pictures with Santa.
00:02:08
And where's that at? Unfortunately I don't have specifically. I'll put you on the spot. You did put me on the spot. That's okay. But it'll be it'll be on the post. Definitely be checking the Lassen County Chamber Facebook page for those like specific times and locations. Okay, so.
00:02:23
What's the name of the Facebook page?
00:02:26
Lassen County Chamber of Commerce.
00:02:28
Okay, so do you know what vendors are going to be out there just yet, or are you still gathering?
00:02:37
Because it's still time to, you know, if you haven't gotten your application in and you want to participate, we are still taking in applications. And so the sooner you get them in that, we make sure everybody gets a spot, you know, somewhere uptown. So that's not too crowded. So no, we're still collecting. So come on out. We're happy to have everybody.
00:02:54
And it gets pretty crowded. It's a fun it is a fun event for it because everybody just I don't know. For people who are extroverts, you know everybody's just kind of out there. We're crowded, we're shoulder to shoulder, fireworks are going off. It's a blast. It is a blast. No pun intended on that, by the way. Yeah.
00:03:11
No it is. You know, we get a lot of people out. Most of the businesses are open uptown, so if there's any retail, they usually do some kind of discount or little Christmas special, you know. So come on out, support your local businesses and your local, you know small. It's again it's crafters. It's food vendors. We've got food trucks. You know that's a new thing for Lassen County kind of in general over the last couple of years. So we definitely want to grow that family too.
00:03:35
So we're kind of happy that the Chamber is doing quite a bit for the for our area.
00:03:40
Yes.
00:03:41
So you, Perry, you've been a member. So Melanie you're the President, current President. Yes. Current President. And you've been a member. Perry. Yeah. What does it mean to you to be a member of the Chamber?
00:03:52
We've been a member for years, but one of our core company core values, is community. And I think the Chamber represents the very best of what community is all about. And Melanie and Kelly and her team and their team have done an incredible job. If you're complaining about there's nothing to do in Susanville, you're not checking out their calendar because they are killing it. There are so many positive things to do. We just participated in the Halloween thing and the safe and sane Halloween. It was incredible.
And that was our first time participating. We brought a piece of equipment. We parked out in the street, and my favorite part about that is it starts at 3:30 p.m., ends at 5:30 p.m., and it's all the little guys, little guys, and gals that show up that, you know, quite frankly, if it's at 5:30 p.m. after work or whatever and you're going house to house, they're exhausted, they're crying, they're having a hard time. But from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. it's completely light. And oh my gosh, it was just we were handing out fistfuls of candy and they were the kids were just having a fantastic time. It was really awesome to see.
00:04:56
Yes, it is absolutely a great event. Yeah.
00:04:59
Actually, Melanie, what are some of the other events the Chamber host that benefits the community?
00:05:04
Oh my gosh. Okay, I hope they don't miss any because the Chamber does a lot. You know, we put on a lot of things. So we start our year off generally with our home and garden show which is in April. So that's it's kind of switched. We've done like wedding, you know, kind of promo things.
00:05:21
But yeah that's right. Right okay. Kind of.
00:05:23
Showcase. Yeah we've done that. So that's in April. We go then into our main cruise. And this year's main cruise, which is hosted down at Memorial Park, was massive, massive, one of my.
00:05:37
Favorite ones that you put on. But anyway go ahead. Thank you.
00:05:39
And I think I, I don't want to misquote, but I know we had more than 80 entries and it might have been I think we pushed 100 cars. Yes, this year down squeezing into that, into the park, which is, which is really.
00:05:50
So it's a car show. It's a car show. It used to be me.
00:05:54
Amanda and I just lost a little bit of respect for what she said.
00:05:57
The cruise. I was thinking of a boat.
00:05:59
And then that's a different kind of cruise. That'd be cool to.
00:06:03
Quite afford that. But yeah, so huge turnout that always turns out to be. I love that really big one. Yes. And that's in.
00:06:11
Vendors there too as well. Yes, great cars and great food. It's just a great time. Anyway. That's my favorite. That's my favorite one.
00:06:20
And and to Perry's point, you know, if you can't find anything to do in Susanville, you're just not looking hard enough. So the Chamber puts that on. And that's usually also coincides. There's there's like four other events that the Chamber doesn't even have anything to do with that also fall in that week. And I think that might be, you know, wiener dog races up at Eagle Lake. And I mean, there's just like, stuff going on anywhere. Okay. So we go from main Cruise, then we've taken on safe and sane Halloween just because there wasn't enough board at historic Uptown Susanville Association right now to do that. Because that organization actually had ran it for the past 30 years. But so we took it on just to make sure that it didn't get lost in the shuffle. And then, of course, our magical country Christmas always that first weekend in December. And then this year we hosted, we brought back our annual membership dinner, where we recognize our volunteer of the year and our business of the year. And this year, those recipients were John McGarvey as volunteer of the year. If you don't know him, he's from the sheriff's department. He referees every sporting event in town and he's out and about.
00:07:29
Just bumped into him ringing the bell in front of Walmart. There you go.
00:07:32
Yes he's out there doing that. And Business of the Year was the Susanville Grocery Outlet because Aaron and Becky down there they just if you need anything they are so happy to donate. And they provide lots of stuff for anything that we need at the Chamber, their Chamber members. And if we need, you know, candy or hot dogs or whatever, they're they're so happy to donate. So they got those awards. And then we are working on, you know, oh, I'm so glad that wasn't my.
00:07:58
That is Aaron, I'm telling you.
00:07:59
Wrap me.
00:08:00
Out.
00:08:01
Um, we're working. You know, we had a stakeholders meeting and are still trying to work through what we're going to do with our PG&E funds, but we work with the city and some stakeholders on how to responsibly. Use that money. So that's something else that the Chamber's working on for the community. Where can we most what's going to benefit the community the most with that funding.
00:08:22
Okay, okay.
00:08:25
Now, Perry, you you you, Perry, I'm sorry. You have been involved in a lot of these events. You sponsor that, a lot of them. Which ones are you involved with?
00:08:36
Well, so we're kind of jumping in here. This is we've been members, but we haven't been participating as much as we'd like. Okay, I'm trying to ramp that up. And we're really excited to work with Melanie and Kelly on that. So the Halloween was the last event that we did. We're excited for the Country Christmas. We're excited for that. We're a major sponsor of that event. Really excited about that.
00:08:53
So that means like extra fireworks because you guys are involved.
00:08:56
Yeah, something like that maybe. Or help them defray the cost because I know they're not cheap.
00:09:00
Sure.
00:09:01
It's amazing how expensive I know.
00:09:03
And if you need help lighting them off, you just let me know, okay?
00:09:06
Aaron, I have a little.
00:09:07
Bit of pyro in there.
00:09:10
So we have 75 employees that call Lassen County home. And so we're trying to ramp up kind of our participation because again, one of our core values is community. And I think the Chamber does an excellent job of aligning with that. And it's just a great partner for the outreach that we want to be doing through that core values. So okay, excited for the opportunity.
00:09:27
And this is where I'm going to put Perry on the spot because I'm going to hit him up right now. So the Chamber does a hometown pride committee that we kind of have. And so when we get gearing up for that next spring, we we have groups and they go up and down Main Street and do cleanups. So we're always after, you know, any kind of donation. Trash bags. Oh yeah. Pick her up. Grabbers. Uh.
00:09:50
Safety vest, safety vests.
00:09:51
So we'll be hitting up Perry in the spring.
00:09:54
Look forward to it for.
00:09:55
That, all.
00:09:56
Right? Yeah. That's great. Cool. All right, so all kinds of fun stuff happening.
00:10:01
Lots of fun stuff happening. All right. All the time.
00:10:03
And if you're just joining us, we are in the studio with Perry Thompson, president of Hat Creek Construction. We also have Melanie Westbrook. She's the Lassen County Chamber of Commerce President and also is a Sierra Desert real estate broker of Desert Properties. All right. Is there anything you want to add before we let you go?
00:10:29
No, other than we appreciate Perry and Hat Creek stepping in on our fireworks. Did double from what our previous had been for, I don't know, 15 years or so. So, really stepping in to help us with that cost, it's amazing. We really appreciate it.
00:10:44
Cool.
00:10:45
Well thank you.
00:10:46
Well thank you guys. Oh thank you for Melanie for guys running such a great program. And I know how busy you are. So it's just if you want something done you ask a busy person get it done. And you definitely exemplify that. So thanks for all you do for the Chamber and the community. Really appreciate I appreciate it.
00:11:01
Ditto.
00:11:02
Thank you for having us.
00:11:02
Yes. Oh always fun to have you guys in. Come in anytime you guys have something going on come chat with us.
00:11:07
We're always here at five. Yeah.
00:11:10
Excellent.
00:11:11
Thank you guys.
00:11:12
You are welcome.
00:11:13
Appreciate it.
00:11:13
All right. Well thank you for coming in. And we'll be right back right after this.
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