The 2024 Oroville Chamber of Commerce slate of officers was announced at the officer installation and awards banquet on Saturday, Jan. 27 at the Oroville Golf Club. The banquet was also a celebration of the group’s first “birthday” after it was reorganized last year. They are l-r Laura Curdie, secretary; Rocky DeVon, president; Marlene Barker, board member; Peggy Shaw, vice president; Shelly Roberts, treasurer; Angela Larson, volunteer and Traci Neal, board member. Not pictured is board member Jeff Bunnell. Gary DeVon/staff photos
OROVILLE – The Oroville Chamber of Commerce held its annual Awards and Officer Installation Banquet at the Oroville Golf Course last Saturday, Jan. 27 and named Lee and Lynn Chapman Citizens of the Year for 2023.
Chamber President Rocky DeVon presented the Chapmans with a glass sculpture with Citizens of the Year on it. He applauded the couple for their years of volunteer service to the community and declared they deserved to be chosen by the organization as Citizens of the Year.
Chamber President DeVon presents Lynn and Lee Chapman with the Citizen of the Year award at the banquet. Lynn Chapman is probably best known for her tireless volenteer work with Oroville Streetscape and Lee Chapman for his work with The Oroville Initiative (TOI).
“We spend four to five thousand on flowers every year,” said Chapman, who also serves on the tree board.
Lee Chapman is deeply involved in The Oroville Initiative (TOI).
“We’re basically a service club and we work well with the city and Lynn makes it easy to find work around town,” he said.
Other projects that TOI has been involved with include a shelter on Kernan Road at the trailhead for the Similkameen Trail, cell phone charger at the Whistler Canyon trailhead and the bike repair station at the museum.
“And don’t forget the world-famous duck races during May Festival. The race is part of where we get our funding. Other funding has come from grants. We have a $25,000 grant that we will be using, along with help from the city, to build a pickleball court,” he said.
Along with naming the chamber’s Citizens of the Year, the officers for the organization were announced. They included DeVon as president; Peggy Shaw, vice president; Shelly Roberts, treasurer; Laura Curdie, secretary and Traci Neal, Marlene Barker and Jeff Bunnell, board members.
“We closed the old Chamber of Commerce and reopened a year ago, so this is our one-year birthday,” said DeVon when introducing this year’s slate of officers. We have seen many businesses come and go who just couldn’t seem to catch that break. We want to change that and help them to succeed.
He applauded his fellow officers and board members, as well as some of the volunteers who helped bring off several events in 2023 and this year’s ice fishing festival.
“I could not have done it without you, we’ve put on some wonderful events… like the ice fishing derby, the chamber barbecue at May Festival and the awesome fireworks display on the Fourth of July. We are shooting to step up to $10,000 display this year, we did $7600 last year. And we had a wonderful tree lighting ceremony before Christmas,” he said.
After dinner of baron of beef prepared by Sone and Robert Marcelle and enjoyed by the nearly 90 people in attendance, DeVon asked for everyone to go around the room and introduce themselves. In addition to hearing from some familiar businesses, there were several new ones. County Commissioner Jon Neal and Oroville Mayor Ed Naillon also spoke to those present. The mayor told the story of looking at a photo in National Geographic of New Delhi in India viewed from a large distance. He said the photo was zoomed closer and closer until you could see the people that made up the neighborhood. He used this to illustrate how important community is, no matter where you find it.
The next Oroville Chamber of Commerce meeting is on Tuesday, Feb. 13 at the Oroville Civic Room at the library at 6 p.m.
