Daily Press Writer
MONTROSE — The eighth annual Uncompahgre Valley Business Expo was a success all around, according to sponsors and participants.
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Merchants seemed to agree.
The lobby and halls of the Montrose Pavilion were lined with booths manned by groups ranging from banks to construction groups to schools — 62 businesses attended the expo.
Keehfus didn’t know exactly how many people came in; there was no means of taking attendance. She said she was pretty sure more people came than last year, when the expo attracted about 2,000.
The expo was capped by the Evening at the Expo, catered by Camp Robber caf/. It featured the announcement of “Olathe Sweet” sweet corn and Hansen Weatherport as winners of Mesa State College’s Excellence in Entrepreneurship award, presented by Ben Keefer director of Mesa State Montrose.
John Harold not only helped breed the Olathe Sweet sweet corn, he came up with and patented the name. He was proud of the honor, and happy that the award went to businesses with Olathe ties.
“I very seldom see them recognize Olathe as part of the county. So ironically two establishments from the Olathe area — I feel very honored,” he said.
Jim Keeney, marketing representative for Hansen Weatherport, accepted the award and said could translate into positives for the business.
“We were very excited about it because it’s a great opportunity for us,” he said. “It’s quite an award to get, especially that we’ve never really done any advertising or marketing of any kind, and it’s an opportunity to gain a little bit more visibility and maybe a little bit more of the market share.”
The awards, Keefer said, would hopefully encourage potential business owners to pursue their ideas.
“The basis of a strong local economy is your local entrepreneurs. And so when we offer a biz degree and have people who are hopeful of owning their own business, it just makes perfect sense that we put in front of these people the local stories (of success).”
At the day’s expo, new businesses and established ones alike met people and showed their products.
GearStash Storage Systems made its debut at the Expo, said owner Lyle Sondergard. The company makes wall mounts and sacks in which to store outdoor equipment, ranging from baseball gear to rollerblades to ski helmets.
Sondergard has been in business for four years and said he’d made sales and handed out a lot of literature at the expo. He was attracted to it because of the community exposure it provides.
“The Chamber is a good way to acquainted in the community and make our presence known and were looking to market through small towns versus large towns,” he said.
Jim Wright is a marketing representative for BOSS in Montrose. He’s also the treasurer of the Montrose Business Association. He said MBA has been participating in the expo for four years. Name recognition is one of the key aspects, he said.
“Any businesses here what they’re looking for is name recognition.
Whether you’re Vectra Bank or Mesa College, you’re still looking for name recognition,” he said.
Joe Bagnara, who owns Affordable Health in Montrose, said he really benefits from getting his name out. Even though his company has little competition, not many people know about it, he said.
“People are unaware of the fact that that there is such a thing as affordable health (insurance),” Bagnara said. “They think it’s an oxymoron, and I have the ability right at the booth to give a quote and they can take it away with them, so I get a lot of business from that.”
Keehfus agreed that many businesses benefit in this way.
“Our business members of the chamber want people to know that they’re
in Montrose and that they’re doing a good job, and by doing this expo we can pull them out and let them display their wares in a good, timely manner, so I think it all works together,” she said.
The businesses can work together too; White said the MBA uses the expo as a recruiting tool.
“We’re a leads group, and so we’re always looking for new members,” he said. “We have about 25 members in the group and we’d like to have about 30. Last year, I think we got four or five from the expo.”
Meeting customers and fellow business people is one thing that’s kept Norvan Huff, owner of Whitey’s Home Improvement, coming to the expo for all eight years, he said.
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