News

Greetings,

We are excited the upcoming Grimes Street Music Festival that is scheduled for Friday, July 3rd. We believe that it will be a great time to celebrate our community and because it is outside it will be wonderful to see our friends again after being quarantined for two plus months. We look forward to celebrating our freedom to enjoy music and fellowship on the public square which is centered at the Lee County Courthouse. 

We are also excited to announce the Giddings Volunteer Firemen will host their annual Firemen's Feast and Fireworks show on July 4th and the Lee County Sheriffs Posse will host their annual Bull Riding Fury on the 4th event. 

We are ready to get to work and see our community return to the day to day activities that fill us with hope for the future. 

Other events that have been rescheduled or canceled.

Senior Citizen Wellness Expo has been taken online and will have a list of senior citizen services available on June 16th. 

Lee County Juneteenth Parade - canceled

Immanuel Luther School Knights of the Round Table Gala has been rescheduled to June 26th at The Silos on 77. Tickets available at Classic Bank or Immanuel Lutheran School. 

Watch for other important announcements.

Have a great day!

Denice Harlan, PCED, IOM

Executive Director

As the temperature heats up, remember to drink plenty of water so you don't get dehydrated. Enjoy the great outdoors! Take time to smell the flowers because even the smallest can produce the biggest fragrance. 

Going out to eat is such a treat now... I love to visit my favorite restaurants and see all the familiar faces out and about makes me so happy.  It is good for the soul to see our friends and neighbors out in the community, supporting all of our small businesses. Thank you for everything you do!

We are going to be closed on Monday for Memorial Day. Remember and Honor!

We hope you have a great weekend!

Denice Harlan, PCED, IOM

Executive Director

Greetings,

As you all may have guessed the summer events are already going to be challenging for our businesses and Senior Citizens to attend. Our Chamber met and discussed all the possibilities regarding our Senior Expo in June 2020. The conclusion reached was that it's difficult to find a safe way to hold the event.

The safety of our senior population and all those who serve them are very important to us. At this time we will cancel the 2020 Senior Expo, which gives us an opportunity to do a little something different. We are going to create a page on our website that is for Senior Citizens and their caregivers!

SENIOR CITIZEN RESOURCE GUIDE 

Designed to give the senior citizen and their caregivers information about the many services available in our community. Just like in the past we will create a page with the name of the company, website, email, and phone number that will be easy to access. All companies that have already invested in the expo can request a refund or we will apply your funds towards a spot on our Online Senior Citizen Resource Guide, to highlight your information on the page.

If you usually join us as a vendor at the Senior Expo or were thinking about it, we will have both paid and free listings in our Online Senior Citizen Resource Guide. Contact the Chamber for more information or check back when we post the details next week.

Our goal is to help senior citizens get the current information they need. 

We know that everyone loved the hands on expo, but it is probably not going to ever be the same. We will see what the future holds. 

Thank you all for being such awesome supporters of our Senior Expo! This too shall pass...

We will look at hosting the event again in the year 2021!

Denice Harlan, PCED, IOM

Executive Director

Happy Friday! We have a lot to celebrate today. 

I'll have a Coke with my pie! We love all nurses, but today celebrate the student nurses who are working hard to learn from home, and finally, we celebrate the incredible Military Spouse who is a Super Hero in our book! 

NATIONAL COCONUT CREAM PIE DAYNATIONAL HAVE A COKE DAYNATIONAL STUDENT NURSE DAY

NATIONAL MILITARY SPOUSE APPRECIATION DAY

We hope you have a great weekend and look forward to beautiful, sunny days ahead!

Denice Harlan, PCED, IOM

Greetings,

We are excited to see Texas opening up. There are some restrictions that will be applied so be very patient with businesses and each other. We will begin to see things return to normal soon. 

This warm, sunny weather is giving us a reason to get outside and enjoy nature. It is good for you and helps to strengthen your immune system.

Vitamin D is often referred to as “the sunshine vitamin” because the sun is one of the best sources of this nutrient. Your skin hosts a type of cholesterol that functions as a precursor to vitamin D. When this compound is exposed to UV-B radiation from the sun, it becomes vitamin D.  

In other news, we will begin to visit our local restaurants and favorite getaways. We have attached some guidelines to help you. The individual and employer information is included. It is important to do your part. 

We are offering employers and job seekers an online job fair  through Workforce Solutions Rural Capitol Area. Sign up today. You may find the employee or career of your dreams.

As a rural community we are looking for ways to help you get access to the things you need locally. We are reaching out to the community to help create our own Shop Local - Farm to Table group where you can get locally sourced food products. In the past we had a Farmers Market which struggled, but it is time to bring back the Local Food Producers. Contact our office to get on the list. Send us your 

name, product, address, email, phone number. We are going to post this on our website and the ARCIT.com website. Rural Texas is the Real Texas. If we grow it, they will come!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

Denice Harlan, PCED, IOM

Executive Director

Greetings,

Our office is compiling an active list of local products that can be bought by the public and potentially shipped out of Lee County to shoppers all over the world. 

Please send us your preferred information to add to the list. This will be included in our ARCIT Website to help rural producers sell their products. 

Email any information to: chambergiddings@gmail.com

Shop Local is great for our community, but it is our belief that garden to table products are going to become more desirable to the city/urban dwellers.

Locally Sourced Foods and Products/Made in GIDDINGS or TEXAS will be very important going forward. 

We hope you will consider joining us and participating in our efforts.

Please share this information with others that will be interested in participating.

Denice Harlan, PCED, IOM

Executive Director

Greetings

We have several updates for you and hope you are having a great Monday!

The PPP has ben extended. You can apply today to the SBA for funds. Talk to your lender about an application. If you need to find a lender go to the SBA website:
https://www.sba.gov/paycheckprotection/find

There will be a testing site open here on Wednesday. All the information is below. 

FLAG CEREMONY - Monday evening from Rusty Scholl

Here's the Sunday update for the flag ceremony tomorrow evening.

Hunter Biehle's casket is due to arrive in Austin on Southwest Flight #2022 at 5:45 pm. How smoothly everything goes at the airport will determine when the procession leaves Austin. Paul Kipp will call me as they leave. At that time we will start passing out flags, going from west to east.
Each flag has a corresponding small orange turf marker with the flag holder's number on it.
I can't tell you what time is best, as there are two many variables. I recommend arriving about 6:45 pm or earlier and finding your turf market. Bring lawn chairs if you desire.
No uniforms are required, but they can be worn. Same for military caps and ball caps. As the procession passes saluting would be nice.
After the procession passes the same truck that delivered the flags will come by and pick them up.
Hopefully we can provide a show of support for the family that they will always remember. Lee County honors military service with pride..
It would also be nice if you can pick up the turf marker and put it in the truck also.
The Giddings fire department, police department, and sheriff's department are all involved, as well as these branches of the towns that the procession will drive through.
This is going to be a long post as here are the flag locations. Some are going to be added later as I messed up when we were marking this morning. I do know that I was tired after walking and marking 3.6 miles.

Everyone please check you flag locations. I know I texted a lot of errors when I was letting people know where to go.
3. Small cemetery off hwy 290
4. Sonic billboard
5. Closed gas station across from metal building shop
6. Across from CEFCO
7. Across from Tractor Supply
8. Los Patrones
9. Wilberts Tire
10 Across from Buc-ees
11.Across from Starbucks
12.McDonalds
13. Auto Zone
14.ClosedPawn Shop
15 Across from America's Best Motel
16. Across from Giddings water tank
17. Round Top Bank
18. Sonic
19.Whistle Stop Antiques.
20 Liquor Depot
21. Los Primos meat market
22. Across from Golden Chick
23. Burger King
24. Chevron sign
25. Rebas
26. Citizens Bank
27. B&B Auto Supply
28. Across from car wash
29. Across from Santa Fe Steak House
30. Across from RBS Campers
31. Intersection of Dallas and hwy 290
32. Center of cemetery
33. West entrance of cemetery
34. Insurance billboard at west side of power station
35. Center of power station
36. East of Texaco station
37. Travel Plaza Truck stop
38. West of Texaco station
39. RV store
40. RV company west entrance
41. Mayer Road
42. Tejas Trading Post Sign
43-46 Tejas Trading Sign
Thank you for accepting all my errors.
Weather is forecast to be clear and the temperature about 80 degrees
Thank you everyone and God bless..

Free Covid Testing by Appointment from Lee County
This will be a mobile drive through Covid-19 Testing site

Where: at the Giddings Public Library, 276 N. Orange St, Giddings
When: Wednesday, April 29 from 9am-5pm
How: By appointment only. Call 512-883-2400 or go to txcovidtest.org

Only individuals with symptoms will qualify for the limited testing:
Fever - Chills - Cough - Fatigue - Body Aches - Shortness of Breath - Sore Throat - Headaches - Nausea/Vomiting/Diarrhea - Nasal Congestion - Loss of Taste/Smell

The warm weather and gentle rain is starting to really give the plants, flowers, and trees a good healthy glow. The pecan trees at the office have started dropping their twirlies and making a big mess, but that is where the yummy pecans come from. 

We received a questionnaire for businesses from the Governor's office. They are seeking input for their Task Force. The questionnaire is on our Business Covid page of the website. Due by this Thursday.  Our input is needed to determine when we can open our businesses.

We are excited to announce that Retail to go is rolling out on Friday.  Local retail stores will be open and can serve their customers on a curb side basis. It would be fun to have a yard sale or sidewalk sale to commemorate this day! Which gives me an opportunity to announce the first ever, HUGE plant sale at ALTMAN PLANTS this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We will be able to fill our little garden plots and stay busy this weekend.

Big shoutout to Debbie Kinas for sprucing up our flower bed behind the Eleanor's Cottage. It was a blank slate that Debbie was able to brighten and give some cheer to us. We appreciate her hard work!

We were also very interested to see how all of our local churches have embraced technology and creativity to have their members be able to enjoy Church! It's great to see our community continue to grow their relationship with God through this new fangled technology. 

We are all learning new things and becoming more tech savvy! Keep up the good work! We need to keep cheering each other on...

Plant Outlet Sale!!
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Giddings Facility – 1180 PR 2906
Right off Hwy 290
Credit cards accepted!!
Hours Dependent on Availability and Weather
All prices are final
****Limited time only****

Greetings

We are starting to dig in the recipe books to find something new to cook for supper. It is interesting to see all the great dinner ideas on social media. We made Harlan's Burritos the other night and I had forgotten how much I loved that recipe. I believe more recipes will be attempted during our self quarantining. 

We should produce a Quarantine Cookbook that has all the best recipes we discovered during these days at home. I have been part of two cookbooks in my life and I can tell you... it is a lot of work, but so worth it. 

We are in the deep part of the 2020 Census and want to remind you that it is very important to complete your form. There are many ways to community will benefit from a complete census count. 

The results of the 2020 Census will help determine how hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding flow into communities every year for the next decade. That includes the following -

• Roads
• Schools
• Public Libraries
• Medical & Emergency Care
• Representation at the State and Federal level
• Firefighters 
• Food for Families

Census results affect planning and funding for healthcare—including programs such as Medicaid, Medicare Part B, State Children’s Health Insurance, and the prevention and treatment of substance abuse. 

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In other news, the SBA is providing lots of information to small businesses. We are posting the forms and press releases as we receive them on our front page of the website. We will continue to provide you with updates to all information.

Thank you to our community volunteers as they provide leadership during this unusual time in our lives

Denice Harlan, PCED, IOM

Executive Director

Good morning

We are happy to see the end of this week.  AND what a week it was...

Our new normal is to work from home, and the creativity and ingenuity of small businesses has been heartwarming. Who knew that social distancing and self-quarantine would be so enlightening. This situation has taught us all to be more patient, be willing to learn new technologies, to think outside the box, or in this case throw out everything you ever knew and START FRESH!

21st Century technology is for everyone, not just the kiddos. Ask Judge Fischer about learning how to Skype. Think of all of the retail businesses who have moved to an online format to sell items. What about the businesses willing to set up face to face appointments or personal shopping experiences? Even Brookshire Brothers is going to be able to do CURB SIDE SERVICE. 

In two weeks our world has changed.  Is it better? Maybe so, Maybe no. Only time will tell, but I guarantee every business will look at their employees differently. Every business will be more accepting of the flexible, work from home model. Every business that had to lock their front doors to customers is sad because those daily visitors are what make us smile and feel connected.

Tell your story... How are you being impacted by this corona virus challenge? How will you change doing business in the future? What have you learned in the past two weeks that you didn't know before?

We learned that our website needed some TLC. Kelita is on the job making it a clearing house for information. The amount of information we have received is like drinking from a fire hose. So much at once and a lot of times conflicting. We are trying to vet the documents and send the most important information you need.

We are here to help you. The community support has been amazing! Let's continue to work hard for the good of everyone. 

Giddings is open for business, but you may want to call ahead, or make an appointment. Lots of our local restaurants have been doing great to-go specials and many fast food places have their apps which makes ordering ahead easy. Check out our restaurant list on the website. www.giddingstx.com for times and phone numbers. 

Thank you to all of our many local citizens who have stepped up to volunteer in so many ways to help make our community better! 

Denice Harlan, PCED, IOM

Executive Director