Parade will start at West & Shiawassee St.

· East on Shiawassee

· South on Adelaide St.

· East on South Holly

· North on Leroy St.

· West on Caroline St.

· North on Adelaide St.

· West on Hickory St.

· North on Beach St.

· East on Wood St.

· End at St. John Catholic Church

Have a safe 4^th of July!

175 ft. Banana Split:
This HUGE summer treat is sponsored by UNCLE RAY’s DAIRYLAND and will be served beginning at 7pm.

Entertainment includes:
Dibbleville Dolls, Bobby Standal, and The Groove Party!

Children’s Games sponsored by Kiwanis:
Individual and team games including tug of war, sack races, and more! Check back for registration information.

Living History:
Meet historic figures from Fenton’s past… courtesy of the Fenton Village Players. Civil War re-enactors will be on hand as well.

Special Guests:
Fenton Mayor Sue Osborn, Fenton 175th Queen Hannah Taylor and her Court, past Queens from our 150th, 125th and 100th celebrations.

~~ IF RAIN, EVENT WILL BE MOVED INSIDE THE ST. JOHN ACTIVITY CENTER GRAND HALL AND GYMNASIUM ~~

Where: Bush Park

What: A Picnic with a FREE 175 foot banana split from Uncle Ray’s

Why: To Celebrate Fenton’s 175th Birthday

Start the picnic festivities at Bush Park around 5:00 PM and watch as workers and volunteers help Dave Durant and Todd Durant of Uncle Ray’s Dairyland assemble an incredible 175 foot banana split and share it FREE with community.  The banana split eating should start around 7 :00 PM.  This is going to something to see for sure!!

The following is reprinted with permission from the author, Stacy L:
http://www.thatdamnredhead.net/2009/03/10/the-internet-is-one-big-expo-what-is-your-booth-like/

This past weekend I helped out at the annual Fenton Community Expo, which is a pretty big deal around here. It’s organized by the Fenton Regional Chamber, and gets bigger and bigger every year. Last year we had over 5,000 attendees, and though official numbers have yet to be released, I’m sure we got a heck of a lot more, thanks in part to free admission (courtesy of The State Bank) and free cake (courtesy of VG’s) to commemorate the Expo’s 25th anniversary.

If you’ve never been to a community expo, it’s a lot like a trade show, in that different businesses set up booths in a big area (in this case, the Fenton High School gym and halls) and showcase their products and services to attendees. Except in a community expo there really isn’t an underlying theme (electronics, for example) — it’s a pot pourri of local businesses in the community. Everything from banks to optometrists to makeup people to funeral homes to people selling astroturf. There are drawings, a petting zoo, derby races, entertainment I never pay attention to, and lots of free promotional swag. Most people in the community go to enter the various drawings held and get the free stuff. Oh yeah, and to check out the local businesses and organizations there.

As I wandered around the expo after my half-day shift of selling 50/50 raffle tickets, I couldn’t help but notice that a business expo was a lot like the internet. (Hear me out on this one, k?)

Attendees of the expo were walking around, browsing the different businesses who had set up booths. Think of the attendees as internet users, and the businesses’ booths as their websites and/or social media presences.

I noticed that there were three different kinds of booth:

Booths that had great displays but barely any people at them.
Booths that had OK displays that had some people at them.
Booths that had so many people at them that you couldn’t even see their displays.
Booths in Category #1 had one or two people at them just standing there, or perhaps sitting, watching people walk by. Some people maybe took a brochure or a pen that was sitting on a table, but there was very little, if any, engagement between the business and the passers-by. These booths reminded me of those businesses with the “build it and they will come” mentality, those who think that if they have a great looking website, that’s all they need and business should flock to them. Only, it doesn’t. Why? Because they’re doing nothing to engage with their visitors. Having a pretty site and a contact form that says “start a conversation” on your website is the equivalent of having a pretty display booth but just sitting there passively, expecting people to come talk to you. Guess what? Prospective customers aren’t likely to talk to you if you don’t talk to them first. (Believe it or not, the local funeral home’s booth was more lively than these ones.)

Booths in Category #2 were the most common. Their displays weren’t stellar but that didn’t matter — they were at least talking to people who walked by, handed them some information about their company, and in addition to a raffle, they usually had some kind of promotional item a little less common than a pen — maybe a chip clip, maybe a koozie, a coffee cup, a pad of sticky notes — something a little more memorable and useful. These are the businesses who might get some new customers after the expo, but no guarantees and really, they’re just happy to be there and happy to get whatever exposure they can. Paralleling this to the web, these would be the businesses who not only had a website but were minimally active in social media, perhaps they had a Facebook page and/or a blog and/or a Twitter account, but they’re not as active as they probably could be.

Then there were a few booths in Category #3 who are the rock stars of the expo. They’re the ones that have all the other exhibitors jealous and wishing all those people were at their booth. My buddy Raul is one of those exhibitors — you literally have to stand on your tippy-toes to see what all the fuss is about at his booth. Raul is the marketing manager for Financial Plus Credit Union, and every year hoards of kids and adults gather ’round the FPCU booth and play games for some pretty cool prizes. Everybody working at the booth is talking to everybody that walks by and nobody is bypassed. This year, he brought a Wii and kids were waiting in line to play. What does playing Wii have to do with a credit union? Nothing, really, but when it comes time for local kids to get their first checking account, which of the 20+ banks and credit unions in the area do you think the kids are going to remember? That’s right — Financial Plus. I’m not much for video games but I played a trivia game and won a pen like no other — it’s some kind of hybrid ergonomic pen/hi-lighter/laser-shooter deal that’s unlike any writing utensil I’ve ever seen. (OK, so it doesn’t shoot lasers, but it might as well.)

My favorite dentist, Dr. Patty, is another of the expo rock stars every year. Though she usually doesn’t have quite the crowd that Raul has, every year she and her hygienists are there making balloon animals, talking to people, and educating them about good dental hygeine at the same time. This year she was giving away entire dental hygiene kits for kids that included a toothbrush, floss, stickers, mouthwash, the whole nine yards. Dr. Patty is a dentist and kids and parents alike flock to her booth. Kids are generally afraid of dentists, but Dr. Patty breaks the mold and appeals to them.

Expo rock stars like Raul and Dr. Patty know that the secrets to having a popular booth, thus a popular business, are content and engagement. And this is no different from the web. If you have great content and engage with your audience online, you are bound to have a stronger presence and thus more business. Think HubSpot. Think Cision. Think David Meerman Scott. Heck, think Urbane Apartments. Chock-full of content and engagement. It’s no wonder they’re regarded as top dogs in their respective fields.

If your web presence were comparative to an expo or trade show, which category do you think it would fall into? Would you be an expo rock star like Raul or Dr. Patty, or would you be the business with a great display and a booth that everybody walked by? If you’ve ever participated in a similar event, which of the three categories of booths did you belong to?

The Fenton Regional Chamber of Commerce Community Expo is FREE this year. The expo is open to the community and will be held at the Fenton High School (US23/Owen Rd Exit).

Sat. March 7th 10:00am to 6:00pm
Sun. March 8th 11:00am to 4:00pm

Prizes, family entertainment, education, food and great information! Come see what they have to offer!

Silent Auction Each day!
You could win:  Spa package,  Entertainment package,  Beverage basket,  French Laundry gift cards and more each day!

Stacy Lukasavitz was kind enough to share with us some of her pictures from the evening events at Jinglefest in 2008.  Thanks Stacy!!

See her complete Jinglefest 2008 Photo Album

MoDoggie

Bring your friends to MoDoggie’s in Fenton, Michigan this Friday (12/12/08) to celebrate the 16th anniversary of MoDoggies!  Prices will be rolled back to 1992.  Get your share of freebies, prizes and give-a-ways!  Enjoy the FREE buffet from 5:00 – 7:00 PM. Come hear live music starting at 7:00, too!

• Sour Jane
• Frequency 54
• The Jon Fett Quartet
• The Enablers
• Naked Jane

Click on the picture of the poster for greater detail.

November 22-23, 2008 – Gerych’s Annual Christmas Open House
11:00 AM until 5:00 PM

November 27, 2008 - Thanksgiving
Place your floral orders early!

November 29-30, 2008 – Photos with Santa
11:00 AM until 4:00 PM

December 4, 2008 – Decorating Mantels & Banisters ($15)
6:30 PM start
Tips to help beautify your mantel & staircase

December 18, 2008 – Blooming Holiday Plants Workshop ($15)
6:30 PM start
Blooming house plants & planting bulbs

Gerych’s Graziella
713 Silver Lake Road
Fenton, MI 48430
810-629-5995

What will happen with the old FentonSays Forums?  Nothing for now.  Once the transition is more complete, we may consider taking it down.  But for now, it remains as is.  It just won’t be the promoted or active forum discussion boards in use.  With the conversion, we are unable to bring over many of the older posts.  And perhaps those post authors would consider restating their comments and opinions on the new FentonSays Forums.

Why aren’t there as many posts on the new FentonSays Forums?  Because we are starting all over again, fresh and rejuvenated.  Feel free to participate and shape the new FentonSays Forums with your opinions and comments!

Do I need to register to make posts, or can I make posts as an anonymous guest?  Please do sign up as a member as membership is FREE!  But it is not required.  You can post as a guest, but in order to keep forum spam to a minimum we have a feature where you must enter in the random code displayed in order to post as a guest.  This helps to keep the automated junk from swamping our beloved forums, and lets us know that there is a human behind the words.  If you register as a member (did we mention that membership is FREE) you will no longer need to type in that displayed random code, and that’ll make your board participation that much easier.

My club/church/subdivision/business/group would like to have its own forum on the FentonSays site … is that possible and how much does it cost?  Not only is it possible, it is encouraged!  And … it is FREE!  You read that right.  As long as your club/church/subdivision/business/group is Fenton, Michigan related, we will set up a special forum for you to post updates, information, comments and have an open forum for other people in our local community to participate.  All you have to do is e-mail us and make a request.  We’re happy to work with you, and we think you’ll agree that the price is right.

What part of the FentonSays Forum are you working on right now?  Well, we have decided to start a local business resource forum for the Fenton, Michigan area.  Feel free to post about your own personal experiences with local businesses.  If you have a favorite or least favorite Fenton business that is not listed yet, sign up as a member (did we mention that membership is FREE?) and create your own sub-forum with the business name and contact information and then feel free to share your views and opinions.

What part of the FentonSays Forum would you like to develop next?  Great question, because we are always looking ahead!  We’ve notice an increase in the number of great garage sales going on in the Fenton, Michigan area.  Wouldn’t it be great to have a place where garage-salers could post information about their garage sale in one convenient (and FREE!) location, and bargain-hunters in the area could read up and stay informed about local area garage sales?  We think so!  For now, feel free to post that information in the General sections.  Later on when we flesh out the Fenton Garage Sale Forum, we’ll be able to move those posts over and keep it well organized.

How do I get to the new FentonSays Forums?  There is a button on the home page of FentonSays.com or you can click hereto get there right now.  Happy posting, Fentonites!